Military

DATE=7/7/2003

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

TITLE=KENYA/SOMALIA/FLIGHTS (L-O)

NUMBER=2-305148

BYLINE=CATHY MAJTENYI

DATELINE=NAIROBI

CONTENT=

VOICED AT:

INTRO: Air travel between Somalia and Kenya is to resume Tuesday, after the Kenyan government lifted its flight ban. Cathy Majtenyi reports from Nairobi.

TEXT: Air charter companies and relief workers are among those pleased by the Kenyan government's decision to end the flight ban, which was put into place more than two-weeks ago, following what the government called an unspecified terrorist threat.

In announcing the resumption of flights, National Security Minister Chris Murungaru said the government was satisfied with security improvements made recently at airports. He also noted that the ban had affected trade between the two countries and had hurt relief operations in Somalia.

A daily newspaper in Kenya estimates that one of Nairobi's airports lost 205-thousand dollars a day because of the ban.

Captain Himat Vaghela is managing director of Capital Airlines, a Nairobi air charter company that earns about 75-hundred dollars a day. He says his company lost around 98-thousand dollars during the flight ban, and that he is looking forward to resuming his business.

/// VAGHELA ACT ///

We already got our clients now inquiring. We are flying again tomorrow. I hope it will gain momentum and go back to what it was before.

/// END ACT ///

Aid agencies have also felt the pinch. UNICEF Somalia's emergency officer, Bob McCarthy, explains that the flight ban hurt the agency's operations.

/// McCARTHY ACT ///

We faced serious disruptions to planned activities. In some locations, we have had to suspend child immunization activities that affected something on the order of 10-thousand kids who were supposed to be immunized against the main killer diseases.

/// END ACT ///

Mr. McCarthy says UNICEF is relieved with the resumption of the flights and will continue with its activities in the warring country. (SIGNED)

NEB/CM/ALW/FC/RAE