Airbus to provide Egypt as ‘deposits’ on new delivery of Russian-made MiG fighter jets
Ethiopia used its flagship commercial airline to transport weapons into the Somali region along the contested border with Eritrea, it has emerged.
Migaloo Airlines’ aircraft took the cargo group Tatair to supply weapons to the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front, the rebel group that is fighting an internal rebellion.
The land-based delivery was conducted by conventional ways across the barren plains of Tigray where their home base lies, officials said.
Tatarair reportedly provides 200-1,500lb (90-300kg) of weapons and ammunition, mostly in thermal instruments and communications equipment, to the National Unity Front every two weeks.
Ethiopia says its troops in the Somali region are combat-ready. The state-owned airline said on Facebook that Migaloo sent a cargo with the Liberation Front of Tigray (UFT) to receive weapons by helicopter, landing in Wataberi district in the Kenyan border region of Lamu.
“UFT has consigned to Migaloo several weapons and other equipment, including thermal thermometers and communication equipment,” the state-owned airline said.
Migaloo is in no danger of bankruptcy. Foreign direct investment is on the rise in many African countries despite recent political and security threats.
It operates six Airbus A300-600s made in Germany. The planes account for just over a quarter of Ethiopia’s fleet and the company offers baggage services. Its existing fleet has been in use since the 1970s.
In 2014, Tigray state radio announced that Migaloo had commenced a new journey from Addis Ababa to Arusha, Tanzania, via Afar in Ethiopia’s north, by land-based, direct flights.
It was the start of a new fleet in line with Ethiopian president Mulatu Teshome Wirtu’s pledge to update the country’s aircraft to give it access to new markets, making it an alternative route to neighbouring Kenya Airways’ flights to Nairobi.
Ethiopia’s prime minister, Abiy Ahmed, pledged to modernise, consolidate and revitalise the country’s airline fleet in October.
Ethiopia faces challenges from the internal conflict in Tigray, a resource-rich but ethnically homogenous region, and two major battles with South Sudan for control of the flashpoint town of Bor. The Somalian-based insurgent group al-Shabaab has also attacked military positions in the region.
Ethiopia’s economy grew by at least 10% this year for the first time in 25 years, supported by strong investment inflows from the US and its allies, political reforms and the nation’s new priorities for the livestock and shipping sectors.
Ethiopia sent more than 6,000 troops to Somalia in a drive to seize control of the key port of Kismayo from al-Shabaab.
An estimated 8.1 million Ethiopians live under severe food insecurity, with six million food insecure, the UN’s World Food Programme said in December. About half of those live in Tigray.
Ethiopia has been criticised for flying air strikes against al-Shabaab militants since 2013, including at least three times in 2018. Three civilians died in one attack, but many more have died in other attacks.