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Military court passes death sentence on Ethiopian pilots

Posted on , Updated on by Elias Kifle

By Neamin Zeleke

Sources inside the regime of Tigrean People Liberation Front (TPLF) in Ethiopia have disclosed that a secret military court has passed death sentences on four air force pilots who sought political asylum in 2006 while on a training mission in Israel.

According to the sources, a TPLF-appointed court at the Air Force has passed a “guilty” verdict and a death sentence in absentia on Capt. Samuel Getachew, Lt. Himanot Gebre Mariam, Lt. Fikresleasie Feleke, and Lt. Yitabrek Takele.

The TPLF regime’s military is currently plagued with a series of defections. During the past few years, senior officers, including generals and colonels, as well as scores of junior officers and privates have defected to other countries seeking asylum.

It is also to be recalled that a few weeks following the May 2005 fraudulent elections, Lt. Behailu Gebre and Lt. Abiyot Manguday fled to Djibouti flying a military helicopter. Ethiopians around the world made a vigorous effort to rescue those officers from being handed over to Meles Zenawi’s regime while they remained in Djibouti. Reversing the initial promise it gave to provide them with protection, the Government of President Omar Gulleh sent them back to Ethiopia, to certain torture and death, in flagrant violation of international conventions and protocols that accord protection for political refugees. After their forcible return to Ethiopia, Lts. Behailu and Abiyot have disappeared without a trace. It’s believed that they have been executed.

Other Air force pilots who fled the country, including veterans such as Captain Teshome Tenkolu and eight pilots who were on a training mission in Belarus, have managed to resettle in European countries where they are protected and far away from the sad and cruel fate befallen Lts. Behilu and Abiyot.

Withing the past year, General Alemshet Degefe, head of the Air force, and his deputies were summarily dismissed after a fall out with officials of the ruling party, TPLF, and replaced with party loyalists from Tigray region, including, General Molla Hailemariam, head of the air force; General Tadesse Worede, head of Military Staff School; General Seyoum Hagos, chief for eastern command; and General Yohannes Gebremeskel, chief of central command. General Samora Yunus, a TPLF Central Committee member, remains Chief of Staff.

The TPLF regime’s military continues to face serious discontent and low morale, in part, due to lack of a merit-based system and professionalism. The crisis facing the military is compounded by the quagmire in Somalia.

9 thoughts on “Military court passes death sentence on Ethiopian pilots”

  4. TPLF keeps on killing and imprisoning the cream of the society. And the rest of the society is reduced to unparalleled poverty. It’s much worse than the war-ravaged (war economy) of the Dergue era. People are starving across the country. A quintal of teff in Addis is over 1000 Birr, and it keeps on climbing.A kilo of ‘ater’ is 20 Birr. Don’t even ask about ‘berbere’. Time has proven beyond any doubt, TPLF is a curse for government that befall on the Ethiopian people.

  7. Colleagues please read this piece and you will see that the current regime in Arat Kilo is NOT Ethiopian that have the interest of Ethiopia!!!

    The historic treasons of Mellesse and Woyane/TPLF against Ethiopia and Ethiopians: The II Ethiopian Eritrean War, 1998 – 2000

    Contributed by Tom Cooper & Jonathan Kyzer, with additional details by Nadew & Alexander Mladenov – Last Updated (2001)

    An extensive and exclusive insight into the air war between Ethiopia and Eritrea, based on a shorter version published in the AFM magazine (volume August 2000)

    Pages 15 and 16

    Fierce battles raged along the front in the following days, with Eritrean hit and run counterattacks near Barentu and Zalambesa, staged in order to bolster the morale of their battered military, and bombing of the port of Assab by two Ethiopian MiG-23s, on 2 June 2000.

    However, in a flagrant violation of their own claims about a pull-back from all territories captured so far, on the morning of the 3 June 2000, Ethiopian troops started a new offensive at the front close to Burre, broke through and started operations against the second Eritrean defense line – only some 37 kilometers from Assab. This offensive was initiated under considerable constraints: the Ethiopian General Command wanted to employ the same tactics of deep outflanking of enemy positions, like previously in the Badme area. This, however, “would result in capture of Assab; which was politically unacceptable”. “Consequently, a much more shallow attack profile was chosen instead, which resulted in no new deep penetration”.

    Capturing/returning Assab to its legal owner Ethiopia was politically unacceptable to Ethiopia’s enemies – Woyane/TPLF. Instead a much more shallow (fake) attack was chosen not to capture Assab and sacrifice 8,000 Ethiopians in this fake battle field alone. Mellesse who ordered this fake operation is surely the most treasons criminal that should face Court Marshall for his war crimes.

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