MOGADISHU (Reuters) – Mogadishu’s main airport was largely shut down on Wednesday after militant Somali Islamists threatened to attack any planes using it.
Staff at the airport said carriers using the sea-front facility in south Mogadishu had decided not to take any risk following the threat by al Shabaab to target aircraft landing or taking off after midnight on Tuesday.
Al Shabaab, which is on Washington’s list of terrorist groups, is spearheading an insurgency against the Somali government and its Ethiopian military backers.
“Turning deaf ears to what al Shabaab said means planes will be burned and staff assassinated at their houses,” an official at the airport said. “We have agreed not to land planes.”
A weekend statement by al Shabaab said the airport was a legitimate target because it was used by the Somali government, the Ethiopian military, and African Union (AU) peacekeepers, whom it perceives as propping up the government.
About 4-5 flights daily were going through Mogadishu airport before Wednesday.
The AU, which has 2,200 peacekeepers in Somalia, mainly based at the airport, condemned the threat, saying it would harm locals because it would block medical supplies.
DJIBOUTI TALKS
AU spokesman Barigye Ba-Hoku said the peacekeeping mission had no immediate scheduled flights, but it would continue to use the airport. “For us it is still open but we shall not take the threat lightly. We are alert 24 hours,” he said.
“This threat is nothing new because the airport was subjected to attacks since we first arrived,” he added.
The airport has suffered a string of attacks since Islamists launched an Iraq-style insurgency in early 2007 that has killed nearly 10,000 civilians and an unknown number of combatants.
Al Shabaab’s threat against the airport reflects the growing confidence of one of the main protagonists in the Somali war. The group last month led an Islamist takeover of southern Kismayu port, giving it a strategic base near the Kenyan border.
The United Nations’ special envoy for Somalia Ahmedou Ould-Abdallah, who is in Djibouti trying to promote a peace deal between the Somali government and moderate opposition figures, condemned al Shabaab’s move.
“If any plane is downed … they will be held responsible,” said Ould-Abdallah, who chaired a meeting on Tuesday of the International Contact Group (ICG) in Djibouti.
The multi-nation group, which is trying to help broker peace, condemned ongoing violence and urged all Somalis to back the tentative peace pact signed in Djibouti earlier in the year.
(Additional reporting by Ibrahim Mohamed; Sahal Abdulle in Djibouti; Writing by Andrew Cawthorne; Editing by Matthew Jones)
