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From ACIG.org Central, Eastern, & Southern Africa Database
The high spirits within the EtAF in the aftermath of success during the war against Eritrea, in 1998-2000 - were soon past. In February and March 2003 no less but 15 senior Ethiopian officers – including 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. Lt. Daniel Negussie, a veteran fighter pilot already since the 1980s, was first. He was one of the EtAF pilots who fled to Djibouti, in 1991. He returned to Ethiopia several years later, and lead a private life. In 1998, however, he was called to duty with the EtAF again, assigned as a “chief” of the Helicopter Transport Department, and flew combat sorties against Eritrea. After the war, on 14 February 2003 he traveled to England on medical reasons and then sought political asylum there. Within only a few weeks, more officers followed, including: - Col. Fanta Olanni (sought asylum in the US) - Lt.Col. Girma Challa (left EtAF in 1991, settled in Eritrea, where he flew for the ERAF until recently, now living in the USA) - - Maj. Melaku (US) - Capt. Getnet Tamiru (US) - Capt. Bruk Araia (US) - Lt. Beza Behaliu (US) - Lt. Kinde Damte (left EtAF in 1991, settled in Eritrea, where he trained the ERAF pilots until trying to return to Ethiopia, sought asylum in the US) - Flight Tech. Lt. Leikun Bisset (Germany) - Lt. Yeshanew Lema (US) - Lt. Yohannes (US) - Lt. Tadesse or Tarekegn Mekonnen, fighter pilot (sought asylum in England) - Engineer Mitiku Bayissa (US) - Engineer Kahsaye Giday (England) - Engineer Shkur (England) - Junior Airman Moges Wolde-Amlak (England) Additionally, in February Capt. Teshome Tenkolu and Lt. Samuel Gebre-Mariam defected to Eritrea flying an L-39 trainer. Capt. Teshome was reportedly jailed for two years after declining to fly combat sorties during the II War with Eritrea, in 1999. These defections created panic within the EtAF: all the remaining members of the air force – especially those who have closer friends or relatives living outside Ethiopia – are under close surveillance ever since. The higher officers of the EtAF especially blamed Lt. Kinde Damte and Lt. Tarekegn Mekonnen – who commanded the No.3 FBS, flying MiG-23BNs at the time (and who led an EtAF strike against the Somalia-based terrorist organization al-Itihad al-Islamia, connected with al-Qaida) - for being instrumental in luring others to abandon the service. Lt. Mekonnen was highly respected as capable officer and pilot, which proved his capabilities during and after the war with Eritrea, as well as in subsequent anti-terror operations in Somalia beyond any doubt. Nevertheless, he was jailed afterwards because being a member of the legally-registered oppostion party All-Amhara People’s Organization (today All Ethiopian Unity Party). After spending two years and four months in prison, he was released and immediately went into exile. The problems were not over, however: in October 2003 a next series of defections hit EtAF, when four additional officers, including Maj. S. Zenowi, Catp. S. Hailemariam, Capt. H. Alemayehu, and Lt. M. Desalegn defected. With the war against Eritrea over, the government of President Miles Zenawi obviously turned against the EtAF and is about to completely demolish it because of inner-plitical issues. After a series of defections in the last two years, the Ethiopian Air Force (EtAF) was now hit by a spionage scandal as well. In early July 2004 the Ethiopian federal police arrested two private persons, both ethnic Oromos, employed at EtAF headquarters in Debre Zeit (some 45km from Addis Ababa). Kumsa Berisa (28) and Hussein Genemo (23) were arrested on charge for passing defence-related informations to Eritrean intelligence and the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF), including number of fighters operational with EtAF, their combat capabilities, air defence weapons and other similar documents. The Ethiopian police has ever since confirmed that an unknown amount of secrets were supplied to Eritrea, and damage to have been done. Job profiles of Brisa and Genemo remain unknown, however, so that it remains unknown how precise their informations could have been. The Eritrean Air Force has put a number of MiG-29 fighters, as well as Mi-8 and AB.412 helicopters on show during the recent military parade staged in commemoration of the 10th anniversary of the Eritrean independence. Here a few stills from the Eritrean TV video taken during this show.
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