The Kenyan government has reportedly denied entry to Somalia’s Deputy Prime Minister, Jibril Abdirashid Haji, and returned him to Mogadishu, following a row over allegations that he had obtained a Kenyan passport illegally, according to Kenyan media reports.
According to sources, Jibril Abdirashid landed at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) on Wednesday evening, arriving from Mogadishu on a Saacid Airlines flight. He was carrying a Somali diplomatic passport and a Kenyan entry visa.
A Kenyan immigration source said officers stopped the official after they suspected he was also carrying a Kenyan passport that had been obtained illegally.
He reportedly admitted to possessing the passport, but refused to hand it over to immigration officials, insisting that the matter be resolved in court.
The official was held for hours in the VIP Lounge of the airport, where further checks were carried out on his travel documents, before being put on a Daallo Airlines flight back to Mogadishu.
There has been no official statement from the Somali and Kenyan governments so far. However, a source at the Kenyan Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed that the official had been returned.
The incident comes as President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud is on a visit to Kenya this week, where he met with Kenyan President William Ruto, and is expected to affect diplomatic relations between the two countries if it is not resolved formally.
