By M.A. Egge
The Somaliland Aviation and Airports Authority (SAAA) revealed that the Mogadishu based Somali government has acknowledged that that they have lost control of much of the airspace in many areas of their country.
This was disclosed in a press release that highlights the fact that the Mogadishu air controllers have lost the control of the widely traditionally standard voice messaging procedure hence have issued a Notice to Airmen (NOTAM) that they should opt for the unorthodox simple text messaging through Controller Pilot Datalink Communications (CPDLC) instead.
The SAAA has pointed out that the government of Somalia has realized that 60% of the airspace in the whole of Somaliland and parts of Somalia is directed by the control of the Aviation Information Center in Hargeisa, indeed a major achievement for the Republic of Somaliland in the air saga between the two countries.
It is worth noting that when the SAAA declared its takeover of its Somaliland airspace, the Mogadishu government hastily announced in denial that the airspace in question was only a 150 mile radius around Hargeisa; but with the NOTAM release it has acknowledged that it had not lost control over the whole of Somaliland but a chunk of its own Somalia airspace depend on the Hargeisa center to direct flights overhead.
The press release read as follows:-
“The Somali Civil Aviation Authority issued a notification or NOTAM stating that more than 60% of the control and management of the airspace have been taken over, telling the airlines that from now on they should call Hormuud Satellite Company’s phone number which is open to (SATCOM), and the CPLDC equipment, which is not fully capable and in essence the system that caused the scary problems that happened to Qatar Airways and Ethiopian airlines in near-miss collusions; and this is in violation of the ICAO regulations established for the guidance of civil aviation.
The press release added that according to the announcement, the Somali Aviation Authority has confirmed that most of the airspace control (lost hence directed by Hargeisa) are from:-
Ras Caseyr to Bahdo District in Galgaduud Region,
Qandala to Buhoodle,
Wajale to Lasqoray ,
Wajale to Dhudub District.
On February 13, when Somaliland announced that it had taken over the control of its airspace, the Civil Aviation Authority of Somalia issued a statement, which said that 150 (miles) of Hargeisa and its surroundings had been taken over”.
The SAAA press release concluded that “this is a victory for the nation of the Republic of Somaliland”.