Kenya ban suspended for humanitarian flights

Humanitarian flights from Kenya to Somalia have been cleared for a two-week period while discussion between the government and the flight providers - the European Community Humanitarian Office (ECHO), the UN Coordinated Air Service and the ICRC - continue on an agreed mechanism for their regularisation over a longer period. The Kenyan government, keen to stem arms flows from Somalia, announced the closure of its borders on 22 August and the extension of that to all flights, including humanitarian, on 25 August. A government note on 30 August specifying that all flights would have to be cleared three days in advance, and that each UN flight would have to be recommended by UNHCR and UNDP, was considered "an impracticable compromise", but humanitarian sources who spoke to IRIN on Friday remained confident that a mechanism would soon be agreed for the flight approval of up to three months.