MOGADISHU (Somaliguardian) – Somalia has filed a complaint on Kenyan air strikes that killed civilians in Gedo region at the United Nations Security Council, days after the two nations announced resumption of diplomatic relations, state media reported on Monday.
The country’s permanent representative to the United Nations Abukar Osman Bale submitted evidences of Kenyan air raids, including one that killed a mother and her child in the town of El-Adde earlier this month.
It comes after the two countries announced resumption of diplomatic relations and just two days following Nairobi’s decision to open its air space to flights from Somalia.
Somalia had earlier accused Kenya of carrying out indiscriminate air strikes in the south of the country to “kill and main civilians”, though the government of Kenyan president Uhuru Kenyatta has not yet commented on the allegation.
Relationship between the countries has been at its lowest point in decades since Somalia accused Kenya of meddling in its international affairs and undermining elections last year, an assertion Nairobi strongly denied. Somali government also expelled Kenyan diplomats from the capital Mogadishu and ordered Kenyan embassy to close while recalling its diplomats in Kenya.
The move is feared to add tinder to an already raging row between the two countries over ownership of Indian Ocean oil blocks.
Somali federal government urged Kenya last week to reopen its diplomatic mission in the capital Mogadishu, a request Kenya has responded positively with announcement that it will soon put an end to the closure of its embassy in Somalia.
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