WASHINGTON, DC (June 20) – Tension ran high in the Ethiopian Air Force on Monday after eight Ethiopian SU-27 fighter pilots who were reportedly having ties to the defection to Djibouti of two pilots a week earlier sought protection from the United Nations in the Belarusian capital of Minsk.

The pilots are lieutenants:

1. Fassil Mammo
2. Anteneh Moges
3. Eyob Gebremichael
4. Anteneh Mekuria
5. Gossa Girma
6. Abdissa Befikadu
7. Abduljebar Mama
8. Abaya Bekele

The pilots have been training in Belarus but information that the eight had contacts with Captain Behailu Gebre and Abiyot Mangudai before the latter fled to Djibouti have made them “suspects” in government circles.

Behailu and Abiyot were on a standby with their M-31 helicopter gunship during the recent violence in Addis Ababa but the two chose to defect to Djibouti than rain bullets on their own people. The Djibouti government has returned the helicopter to the Meles regime but the whereabouts of the two remained unknown.

The defection of the eight more means things have gone from bad to worse for the regime which, following the defeat in the May 15 elections, has only the trust of its security forces to remain in power.

“Almost all pilots are suspected of being against the Meles regime which has deployed armed soldiers on board to escort transport aircraft pilots during their flights,” a source said.

Meles and the Belarusian government have strong military agreements, and UN involvement in facilitating the demand of the pilots remains crucial.

Currently Ethiopians in the Diaspora are requesting the Djibouti government not to deport the two pilots back to the Meles regime.
(Source: Ethiomedia.com)