The 6 African Countries Where Drones Are Banned – Plus Why They Are Banned

Exactly two months ago, UAV Coach — a community of 50,000+ drone pilots. which offers online drone training courses, free guides, community drone fora, and industry updates — put out a master list of drone laws for countries throughout the world.

The research by UAV Coach identified 18 countries in the globe where drones are banned and one could, in fact, get into a boatload of trouble for flying one. The research studied 200 countries.

In general, two primary reasons were found out as responsible for drone bans in certain countries.

Firstly, UAV Coach found that countries that have banned drones are just not sure what to do about drones, so they’ve decided to ban them altogether until they can develop the appropriate legislation.

And secondly, drones are banned in certain countries the government wants to control information, and their population’s ability to obtain it.

Although drone laws are simply nonexistent in a lot of countries, only a relatively small group of countries ban the use of drones completely — 18 of them, or about 9 percent of the world’s countries, to be exact.

On the African continent, there are a total of 6 African countries where flying drones is tantamount to breaking the law. The 6 countries are:

• Algeria
• Cote d’Ivoire
• Kenya
• Madagascar
• Morocco
• Senegal

However, although many African countries still lack drone laws or have banned drones altogether, some — such as Rwanda, Namibia, and South Africa, for starter — have developed robust drone laws, and are leading the way for neighboring nations to do the same themselves.

Also, it is likely that Kenya would soon lift the ban on drones as the Kenya Civil Aviation Authority (KCAA) has revealed plans to lift its drone ban in the coming weeks/months. Currently, it’s still illegal to fly drones in Kenya and those found wanting can be hit with a one-year jail term or a fine of up to KES 100 K (USD USD 973.97).

In Nigeria, robust drone laws are absent but there is a licensing regime in place. In 2016, the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) placed a ban on unauthorised drones within the Nigerian airspace. A drone can only be used in Nigeria after the owner has obtained a permit.

Other Highlights Of UAV Coach’s Drone Laws Report

• Out of around 200 countries, about 45 had passed drone laws since our last big update over a year ago. That is a lot of countries and indicates a general trend of adoption throughout the world.
• Although drone legislation now exists in about 25 percent more countries than the last time such a report was compiled, it’s still lacking in many countries. It was found that there are 71 countries that still have no drone laws at all on their books—or about 36 percent of the countries in the world.
• Other countries of the world where drones remain banned are Barbados, Brunei, Cuba, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Nicaragua, Saudi Arabia, Sri Lanka, Syria, and Uzbekistan.

Featured Image Courtesy: lib.ncsu.edu