KHARTOUM, May 8 (Xinhua) -- United Nations-African Union Mission in Darfur (UNAMID) on Tuesday said Sudanese authorities have prevented the mission from steering flights between Darfur and Ugandan airports, but Sudan's Foreign Ministry denied the allegation.
"The mission was notified on Wednesday not to steer any international flights between El Fasher, capital of North Darfur state, and Entebbe airport in Uganda," Rania Abdulrahman, UNAMID media spokesperson, told Xinhua.
According to this notification, there should not be any mission flights between El Fasher and Entebbe in Uganda for now, and the flight course is to be adjusted to pass through Khartoum airport, she added.
She went on to say that "the mission on Thursday tried to steer a flight from Entebbe to El Fasher through Khartoum airport, but the authorities did not allow the plane to land in Khartoum airport and thus returned to Uganda. The plane was carrying UNAMID personnel."
She further said that the mission has decided to stop its flights between Sudan and Entebbe until new directives are issued.
Entebbe city in Uganda constitutes a regional base for the UNAMID, which is tasked with keeping peace in Sudan's unrest-hit Darfur region.
Meanwhile, Sudan denied that the authorities have issued any decision preventing UNAMID flights from flying to the Ugandan airport.
"The authorities of the civil aviation and the Ministry of Defense have notified the UNAMID ... that its outbound flights should pass through Khartoum airport. However, this does not mean to prevent the mission flights from heading to Entebbe airport in Uganda," Al-Obaid Ahmed Mirawih, spokesman of Sudan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, told Xinhua.
"It is not true that the civil aviation authorities forbade a UNAMID plane from landing at Khartoum airport last Thursday," he added.
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