The ban on flights between Kenya and the UAE (United Arab Emirates) will continue after the two fail to reach a peace of agreement again. Kenya forced Dubai to be the first to remove their ban on flights from Kenya, after which Nairobi will follow same.
According to the Foreign Affairs CS Rachel Omamo, “the latest round of talks has not yet given any fruitful conclusion.”
Omamo added that the talks were still in between her ministry, the ministry of health and the officials from the Arab statelet.
She said on January 21, “We are still active on this matter, and we want them to open their flight paths and then we will come back with similar approach.”
The Dubai Civil Aviation banned all their flights from Kenya on December 20. It claimed that many passengers who arrived from Nairobi tested positive for COVID-19; however, all of them have their certificate, which showed that they are tested negative against COVID-19.
It also addresses passengers who have been travelling through Kenya in the past 14 days would not be allowed to enter into Dubai.
On January 11, Kenya stopped all inbound and transit passenger flights from the UAE in retaliation.
According to the Kenya Civil Aviation Authority, “Inbound and transit passenger flights from UAE are stopped for seven days; we are doing this to retaliate with same approach on a ban for Kenyan passenger flights to UAE.”
KCAA expanded the ban indefinitely this week.
However, the ban does not impact cargo flights that are typically flown by carriers like Kenya Airways and Emirates airlines from UAE into Kenya.
They banned flights from Kenya due to many false adverse COVID-19 reports PCR results. The Ministry of Health is investigating and will report finding soon, KCAA said.
On January 21, Omamo said Kenya had done well to COVID-19 and said Nairobi hosts Africa’s biggest diplomatic community.
She added that we have the highest diplomatic footprint in Africa, with about 20,000 diplomats staying in Nairobi.