Kenya, Tanzania Lambast Air France–KLM For 'Unfounded' Claims About Purported 'Civil Unrest'

Earlier this week, the Franco-Dutch airline Air France–KLM issued an warning of flights disruptions because of possible “civil unrest” in Kenya and neighboring Tanzania between Friday 27 January and Monday 30 January. The carrier later amended its alert to cite an unspecified "local threat in Tanzania".

The governments of Kenya and Tanzania have rejected recent claims made by Air France–KLM about possible "civil unrest" in the two East African countries.

Kenyan Transport Minister Kipchumba Murkomen branded the warning as being "unfounded, false, insensitive and misleading information that paints Kenya in bad light".

The official said in a statement that the government was "shocked that the airline would spread such fabricated, malicious and false allegations without fact-checking and considering the probable effects to our country's image and economy".

“Although this post has been taken down from KLM's social media pages, we will escalate the discussion through diplomatic channels to ensure the same does not recur,” Murkomen noted.

Air France-KLM Group owns a 7.8 percent stake in Kenya’s national carrier, Kenya Airways (in which the government has a 48.9 percent share).

At the same time, Tanzania’s Minister for Works and Transport Makame Mbarawa also criticized KLM’s allegations of possible civil unrest in the country, saying such claims were "baseless" and "unfounded".

“This statement is baseless, alarmist, unfounded, inconsiderate and insensitive and has caused unnecessary fear and panic to the general public and aviation industry at large,” Mbarawa said in a statement.

The minister noted that there was no recorded civil unrest within Tanzania and that operations at the country's main international airports - including the Julius Nyerere International Airport and Kilimanjaro International Airport - continued without interruption, despite KLM’s false warning.