An ongoing tax issue has forced the closure of Beledweyne’s airport.
Ugaas Khalif Airport has remained shut since Friday.
The reason behind its closure is a tax dispute that appears further from any form of resolution.
Reports from the region indicate that the dispute is between HirShabelle state officials.
HirShabelle’s Vice President Yusuf Ahmed Hagar Dabaged and Musa Salad are at loggerheads. Salad is the HirShabelle Minister of Transport and Aviation.
They are not in agreement regarding the income the airport earns from taxes collected at the airport.
Consequently, local flights have neither landed nor taken off at the airport.
A source added that authorities allow only planes belonging to the African Union Transition Mission in Somalia (ATMIS) to use the facility as the closure enters its second day.