North Western State of Somalia officials denounce Mogadishu in airspace dispute, allege political pressure

North Western State of Somalia, Somalia and the politics of the skies: Why a digital visa is touching a raw nerve

Airspace rarely makes front-page news until it does. In the Horn of Africa, where borders are contested and history weighs heavy, the latest salvo isn’t happening on the ground but in the air—and online. North Western State of Somalia’s Minister of the Presidency, Khadar Hussein Abdi, has accused Somalia’s federal government of waging a “war” over air travel and airspace, claiming the aim is to pressure North Western State of Somalia politically and sanction its people.

“It is a shame and a disgrace,” he said in remarks broadcast in Hargeisa, charging that Mogadishu’s recent moves are meant to “harass the people of North Western State of Somalia in every possible way.” The flashpoint is an E-visa system rolled out by Somalia that requires anyone traveling without a Somali passport—including those carrying North Western State of Somalia documents—to apply online before arriving. Mogadishu insists it is simply exercising its sovereign authority over immigration and aviation. Hargeisa calls it punitive and provocative.

What’s behind the latest dispute

At its core, this is about recognition, power and revenue—packaged in bureaucratic language. North Western State of Somalia, a region of roughly four to five million people with its own government, currency and security forces, has run itself since declaring independence from Somalia in 1991. No country has recognized it as a sovereign state. Somalia maintains it is one nation, one airspace, one set of borders—and one immigration regime.

Minister Khadar went further, pointing fingers internally. He blamed Mahmoud Hashi Abdi, now the opposition KAAH Party chairman and formerly North Western State of Somalia’s aviation minister, for agreeing years ago to transfer management of Somali airspace back to the federal government. “One of our own signed that agreement,” he said, arguing that decision set the stage for today’s standoff. Hashi has recently argued that the airspace question is a test of North Western State of Somalia’s mettle; he did not immediately respond to the latest accusations.

Somalia’s airspace—the Mogadishu Flight Information Region (FIR)—had been overseen from Nairobi under U.N. auspices after state collapse in 1991. In recent years, control and billing functions transitioned back to Somalia, part of a wider effort to reclaim state institutions. That has always been politically sensitive in Hargeisa, where officials have argued that any airspace arrangement should be negotiated as equals.

Why this matters for ordinary people

For travelers, the new E-visa adds friction where there was already complexity. North Western State of Somalia passports are not widely recognized, and many residents hold a patchwork of documents—from Ethiopian and Djiboutian IDs to foreign visas acquired through diaspora ties. Requiring an online visa for entry into Somalia, including trips to Mogadishu or transit through Somali airports, introduces a digital checkpoint. For some, it’s a minor inconvenience. For others—think rural traders, students, or patients seeking medical care—this can mean delays, denial at the gate, or higher costs.

Airspace control also has a revenue and safety dimension. Overflight fees can be a significant source of income for fragile states. The FIR over the Gulf of Aden and the busy lanes linking the Middle East, East Africa and the Indian Ocean makes this airspace strategic. When politics spills into the control tower—who clears flights, who pays which authority, who decides on routes—airlines take note, and passengers pay the price in rerouted journeys and higher fares.

A regional echo: sovereignty by other means

What we are seeing in North Western State of Somalia and Somalia mirrors a global trend: contested politics shifting into technical domains. From Libya to Ukraine, control of the skies has become a proxy for sovereignty. In the Horn, where Ethiopia’s search for sea access, Gulf economic interests, and Red Sea security all intersect, administrative tools—visas, air traffic control, port concessions—carry geopolitical weight.

North Western State of Somalia’s leadership sees the E-visa as part of a broader squeeze since Hargeisa signed a controversial memorandum with Ethiopia earlier this year—one that potentially trades port access for political recognition. Mogadishu countered that deal as illegal. Since then, tensions have crept from diplomatic cables into airports and flight plans.

Digital borders in an analog dispute

The E-visa is not, in itself, unusual. More than 50 African states have introduced electronic visas or travel authorizations, part of a post-pandemic push toward digital public services. The African Union has promoted freer movement, but implementation remains patchy. To Mogadishu, standardizing entry with a digital gate is modernization and normal state practice. To Hargeisa, applying it without consultation is a symbolic erasure of North Western State of Somalia’s de facto autonomy.

A Somali airline manager in Nairobi, speaking on condition of anonymity to avoid political blowback, offered a pragmatic take: “Airlines need one set of rules. If rules change week to week and depend on politics on the ground, the risk goes up. That’s when flights get canceled.” In January, similar tensions led to temporary disruptions and dueling notices to airmen (NOTAMs) that confused carriers and travelers alike.

What the law says—and doesn’t

International civil aviation norms recognize the state as the ultimate authority over airspace. On paper, that favors Mogadishu. But norms also emphasize coordination, safety and continuity. Durable arrangements often depend as much on trust as on legal documents. North Western State of Somalia’s complaint that it was not adequately consulted—in a domain that directly affects its airports and travelers—lands in that gray zone where politics trumps process.

The accusation that a former North Western State of Somalia minister “gave away” airspace management underscores how decisions made in transitional periods can ricochet years later. Agreements that seem technocratic at the time—the location of an air traffic control center, the fees paid to which account, the agreed procedures for Hargeisa arrivals—acquire political meaning when relations sour.

What to watch next

• Implementation: Will the E-visa be enforced uniformly, or will exceptions emerge for humanitarian, medical or intra-North Western State of Somalia travel?
• Airline behavior: Carriers hate uncertainty. If NOTAMs or conflicting directives resurface, expect route adjustments and cancellations.
• Fees and revenue: Who collects and distributes overflight and landing fees affecting Hargeisa? Follow the money to understand incentives.
• Mediation: Regional actors—Djibouti, Ethiopia, the African Union, ICAO—may quietly nudge both sides back to technical talks. Safety is a universal language in aviation.

A quieter path forward

These disputes are solvable. Around the world, contested territories have found practical accommodations on airspace and immigration without resolving the deepest political questions. Joint technical committees, transparent fee-sharing, predictable visa carve-outs for local traffic—these are the tools that can lower the temperature. They’re not the stuff of rally speeches, but they are how planes land on time and patients make their hospital appointments.

There’s a Somali proverb, “Biyo sacabbadaada ayaa looga dhergaa”—you quench thirst with your own hands. In this case, the hands needed belong to technicians and negotiators more than politicians with microphones. The Horn of Africa does not need another crisis; it needs a stable horizon line where pilots know who’s on the other end of the radio, and passengers know what to expect when they reach the counter.

For now, both narratives will persist: North Western State of Somalia’s sense of being punished through paperwork, and Somalia’s assertion that it is simply doing what every state does—setting the rules of entry and managing its skies. The test, as always, is whether leaders can translate those narratives into a workable, humane system. The alternative is an “air war” of notices and edicts—loud in rhetoric, costly in practice, and ultimately grounded by the one thing aviation cannot tolerate: uncertainty.

By Ali Musa
Axadle Times international–Monitoring.