DEBRE ZEIT, Ethiopia – Hit by a series of pilot defectors who disobeyed orders to fire on student demonstrators in recent anti-government protests in Addis Ababa, the government of Prime Minister Meles Zenawi jailed two more pilots from the Air Force Transport Squadron on Monday after concluding those who were fleeing the country were once the students of two senior pilots who also defected to Eritrea in 2003.

“Col. Tegenu Arage, the only C-130 Hercules cargo plane pilot being thrown into an early retirement, arresting two more pilots means the Air Force has shut down its Cargo Transport Squadron,” a source told Ethiomedia on Monday.

The two senior pilots the air force generals suspect as being the cause for the latest defections are Captain Teshome Tenkolu, who was acting commander of the Ethiopian Air Force Flight School in Mekelle, Tigrai region, but fled in 2003 to Eritrea along with a colleague, Lt. Samuel Gebre-Mariam, navigating an L-39 training plane. Captain Teshome was reportedly jailed for two years for declining to join the war against Eritrea before he was re-considered as commander of the flight school.

Side by side with flight instructions, Capt Teshome and Lt Samuel were known for organizing workshops on international humanitarian and civilian law, a course which equips pilots with the legal and humanitarian obligations that isolate civilian from military targets.

On July 7, Lt. Ephrem Kebede, Lt.Sintayehu Beyene and Lt.Fitsum Getachew, all of them once the students of Capt Teshome and Lt Samuel, fled the country but their whereabouts still remain unknown.

Other students who fled into exile but were the students of Teshome and Samuel are:

Lt. Abel Wondimu
Lt. Tewodros Gizachew
Lt. Teklu Takele
Captain Behailu Gebre
Lt. Abiyot Manguday
Lt. Ephrem Kebede
Lt. Fitsum Getachew

The list also includes those pilots who were training in Minsk, Belarus, but ended up seeking political asylum in Belarus as a show of protest to the killings of at least 40 unarmed demonstrators on June 8 in Addis Ababa. The training pilots who have won UNHCR protection in Minsk are (all 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

Those are joined by the two pilots who have been in jail since last Monday.

Meanwhile the government of Prime Minister Meles Zenawi continued to exert pressure on governments that have given temporary shelter to the defecting pilots.
Last Friday the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) expressed concern over lack of response from the Djibouti government which has been suspected of turning over three Ethiopian pilots to the Addis Ababa regime. The news sent anger across Ethiopian communities. Ethiopians in the US are protesting the crime in front of the Djibouti Embassy in Washington DC on Monday.