Saturday September 18, 2021
FILE PHOTO
Mogadishu (HOL) - A Turkish Airlines passenger plane landed in Mogadishu directly from Istanbul on Saturday morning without Somalia's embattled former spy chief.
Turkish Airlines Flight 646 landed at Aden Adde Airport just after 9:30 this morning.
HOL incorrectly reported that Turkish Airlines cancelled its scheduled flight from Istanbul to Mogadishu on Saturday after a key ally of President Farmajo was reportedly detained on Friday in Djibouti while travelling with the airline on the same route.
Fahad Yasin travelled on Turkish Airlines Flight 686 on Friday, which has a scheduled stop-over in Djibouti.
Somalia's President Mohamed Abdullahi Farmajo accused Djibouti of illegally detaining his new national security adviser as he transited through Djibouti en route to Mogadishu just before 7 AM local time.
The plane did not continue to Mogadishu, its final destination.
Djibouti's Foreign Minister Mahmoud Ali Youssouf denied the allegations outright, saying his country would never interfere in their (Somalia) internal affairs."
The Djibouti Foreign Minister and sources in Somalia's Ministry of Transport said that the plane was re-routed to Istanbul following technical errors.
The international community has urged Somalia's leaders to exercise restraint and work towards a resolution so that the government can focus on delivering elections.
Turkish Airlines operates a daily service to Mogadishu with a stop-over in Djibouti. In 2012, It became the first international airline to launch direct flights to Somalia since Somalia's central government collapsed in 1991. The airline has previously said that Somalia is one of the most profitable routes that it operates.
A previous version of this article showed that Turkish Airlines did not fly to Mogadishu on Saturday, September 18, 2021. This was, in fact, incorrect as Flight TK646 landed safely.