NEWS REPORT
Over 15 Ethiopian Air Force pilots fly into exile to escape repression ADDIS ABABA, March 13 (Ethiomedia) – Over 15 senior Ethiopian Air Force members – comprising fighter pilots, flight engineers, instructors and technicians – have gone into exile in the face of worsening political repression and human rights violations in the country, Etop, an Amharic weekly newspaper reported on Wednesday. The newspaper said Ethiopian Air Force pilot Lt. Daniel Negussie, a veteran fighter pilot since the 1980s, traveled to England on medical reasons and sought a political asylum there on February 14, 2003. Daniel was living in neighboring Djibouti when the Derg regime was overthrown and rebels led by Meles Zenawi seized power in 1991. However, he returned home after a few years, and began to lead a private life. He was called to duty in the Air Force when Eritrea invaded Ethiopian territories in May 1998. Daniel was assigned as a pilot within the Air Force’s Helicopter Transport Dept. Then he was transfered and working as “chief” of the Helicopter Transport Dept till the time of his defection, Etop said. Following are the names of other veteran Ethiopian Air Force staff members who have gone into exile:
1) Fighter pilot Lt. Tadesse Mekonnen (sought asylum in England) Lt. Kinde Damte left Ethiopia after he and Col. Tadesse Muluneh, leader of the Eritrea-based opposition Ethiopian Patriotic Front, were laid off following the change of government in 1991. Subsequently, Lt. Kinde traveled to Eritrea after promised to travel to a country of their choice if only they trained Eritrean pilots who were under the command of Eritrean Air Force chief Brig.-Gen. HabteZion Hadgu (Here it is worth noting that if Ethiopia had an Ethiopian government, the Eritrean air force chief would have faced war crimes and crimes against humanity charges for masterminding the Ayder School Childen Massacre in Mekelle, northern Ethiopia, in which over 50 children and their rescue-bound parents were cluster-bombed by Eritrean fighter jets in June 1998. Bragging about his ‘victory’ of massacring civilians, HabtuZion declared: “One to one-hundred – that’s the exchange rate” (Reuters, June 9, 1998)). Caught between the hammer and the hard rock, freedom-yearning Lt. Kinde trained Eritrean pilots for some time, and was allowed to travel to the U.S. Besides Lt. Kinde Damte and Lt. Col. Girma Challa, who earned their visas to the US after sweating for the Eritrean Air Force, four other Ethiopian pilots and a technician are believed to be still stranded in Erirea at the moment. This is in addition to the recent defectio of Captain Teshome Tenkolu, who was commander of the Ethiopian Air Force Flight School in Mekelle, Tigrai, but fled to Eritrea along with a colleague, Lt. Samuel Gebre-Mariam aboard an L-39 training plane last month. 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. Following the Ethiopia-Eritrea War, a number of experienced Ethiopian Air Force flight engineers and technicians have sought asylum in either European countries like Britain or the United States. Among the highly skilled Air Force staffers who have abandoned the country due to intense political repression are:
1. Engineer Mitiku Bayissa (U.S.) Etop said the increasing number of Air Force personnel defection has created panic within the shrinking Air Force community. “Particularly being targetted and continuously kept under serveilance are those who were the closest friends who have now sought asylum overseas.” Lt. Kinde Damte and Lt. Tarekegn Mekonnen were often cited by angry officials as instrumental in luring others into abandoning the Air Force for life in exile, the paper said. “Lt. Tarekegn was a reputed leader of a squadron of fighter jets that carried out attacks on and destroyed the Somalia-based terrorist organization Al-Itihad Al-Islamia, a group believed to have ties with the notorious terrorist organization, Al-Qaeda.” However, the government of Meles Zenawi jailed Lt. Tarekegn alleging that the combat helicopter pilot was a member of the legally-registered Ethiopian opposition party – All-Amhara People’s Organization (today’s All Ethiopian Unity Party). Lt. Tarekegn languished in prison for over two years and four months. When he was released, he went into exile. Once reputed as one of Africa’s few most powerful Air Forces, the Ethiopian Air Force was deliberately left to decay following the coming to power of the regime of Meles Zenawi in 1991. The Air Force began to bounce back to life during the 1998 Ethiopia-Eritrea War when US- and Soviet-trained pilots were called to duty, but once the war was declared over by the Meles Zenawi regime, it was time to demolish one of Ethiopia’s most powerful defense establishments — Our Air Force. |
