Hargeysa, May 5, 2007 – Unknown airplanes have been flying over Hargeysa and Burao last night for an hour and ten minutes (10:50-12.00 p.m).

Many of the residents of the city of Hargeysa began calling each other and checking if other people had seen or heard the planes which were flying at a low altitude. No one reported actually seeing the planes, only their sounds were heard.

The consensus in Hargeysa is that initially it was one airplane, which was later joined by another airplane, and that it was this latter airplane that was circling Hargeysa’s skies.

In Burao, it was reported that at least three airplanes were circling the skies that night.

The Somaliland Times asked Somaliland’s Minister of Aviation, Ali Mohammed Waran Adde about the mysterious airplanes, and he said that the air traffic tower at Hargeysa airport contacted this plane but they got no reply.

“We contacted the ICAO tower which manages the skies of Somaliland and Somalia and they said they were not aware of any planes that were flying over Somaliland at that time. But based on the amount of noise it was making, it seems to be a military plane, and it could have flown from the sea, and could have belonged to either the Americans or French. Usually military plane do not announce the time when they are flying and their destination, but all planes flying at a low altitude inform us. We will find out what they were,” Mr Waran Adde told Somaliland Times on the telephone.

This is the first time since the restoration of Somaliland’s independence that these types of airplanes circle Somaliland’s skies and many people became concerned about it, but no shots were fired in the direction of the airplanes.

There are also reports that a similar airplane flies over Hargeysa at dawn every morning. Many people say that this airplane belongs to the American military and flies from Djibouti, over Hargeysa, to Jigjiga ( Ethiopia).

Source: Somaliland Times

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