Ethiopian Airlines makes historic flight to Eritrea

Ethiopian Airways [ETHA.UL] flight ET 0312 becomes the first flight to arrive in Eritrea in 20 years


Ethiopian Airlines makes historic flight to Eritrea

By BBC

Roses and champagne have been given to passengers on the first commercial flight between Ethiopia and Eritrea in 20 years.

Ethiopian Airlines said its "bird of peace" flew to Eritrea, after the end of the "state of war".

"I am in cloud nine," flight captain Yosef Hailu told the BBC.

Relatives and friends are expected to be reunited for the first time since a 1998-2000 border war between the two nations shut air and road travel.

Ethiopia's Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed has spearheaded a peace process with Eritrea since he took office in April.

He signed a "peace and friendship" agreement with Eritrea's President Isaias Afwerki on 9 July, declaring that the "state of war" was over.

The deal was signed in Eritrea's capital, Asmara, during the first visit by an Ethiopian head of state to the country in 20 years.

Mr Isaias made a reciprocal visit to Ethiopia about a week later.

The two leaders agreed to restore diplomatic ties, and resume air and road travel.

Who was on the flight?

Former Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn was among the passengers on the historic flight.

He told the BBC's Emmanuel Igunza that he was emotional about making the trip.

"It's a golden moment for the two countries and the two people," he said.

Captain Yosef said he was looking forward to meeting friends in Eritrea.

"I'm going back to the place where I grew up. I'm really happy," he told the BBC.

Ethiopia Airlines tweeted a picture of the pilots in the cockpit before take-off.

More than 450 passengers were on board, Ethiopia's privately owned Addis Standard news site reported.

Demand was so huge that a second flight left within 15 minutes, AFP news agency reported.

Why is this a big deal?

Eritrea seceded from Ethiopia in 1993.

Five years later, their armies fought over disputed territory along their border.

Some 80,000 people were killed in the conflict.

A UN-backed boundary commission ruled in 2002 that Ethiopia should cede the town of Badme to Eritrea.

It refused, and the two countries remained in a state of "no war, no peace".

Mr Abiy has promised to hand over territory, but it is unclear when this will happen.


____

Very touching pictures are emerging from Asmara as families are reunited after decades of separation. Thank you PM. Dr. Abiy Ahmed and President Isaias Afwerki for making this possible.

Mother and Son, could not hold their tears back; After almost 20 years they got reunited today, he hugged his mom, held her tight and later on in an emotional display he knelt and kissed his mother’s feet and the ground. #Eritrea #Ethiopia pic.twitter.com/y8veiGEGpG

— Ghideon Musa (@GhideonMusa) July 18, 2018

Serious! @GhideonMusa! You're making me CRY at the office seeing all these amazing pictures that need NO captions -- just add to the 🇪🇷🇪🇹 #peace dividend list!! pic.twitter.com/05UzC4hERM

— Milena Bereket (@tekerebanelim) July 18, 2018

Eritrea and Ethiopia started direct flights for the first time in 20 years, after officially ending a decades-old border war that killed 80,000 people. Some of the families separated by the conflict are being reunited for the first time in years: pic.twitter.com/HmwInpG6YD

— AJ+ (@ajplus) July 18, 2018

Thank you for capturing these priceless moments, G!! This's what #PEACE feels like. This's what the ppl of both countries were denied for too long. If anyone should be held accountable, it's those that wanted short-term gains at our expense, & those that supported them since 98!! pic.twitter.com/uaJ8mDSo9S

— Milena Bereket (@tekerebanelim) July 18, 2018

Ethiopian Airlines Lands in Asmara International Airport today for the first time after 20 years. Foreign Minister Osman Saleh welcomes former Ethiopian PM Hailemariam Desalegn and other dignitaries. #Eritrea #Ethiopia pic.twitter.com/BZ1gzf0kg6

— Ghideon Musa (@GhideonMusa) July 18, 2018

_____________

Flags, flowers greet first Ethiopia-Eritrea flight in 20 years


By Aaron Maasho | Reuters

The first commercial flight from Ethiopia to Eritrea in 20 years landed safely in Asmara on Wednesday to be greeted by dancers waving flags and flowers, cementing a stunning rapprochement that has ended a generation of hostility in a matter of days.

As Ethiopian Airways [ETHA.UL] flight ET 0312 made the momentous switch from Ethiopian to Eritrean airspace, chief executive Tewolde GebreMariam took to the on-board intercom to remind the 315 passengers they were part of history.

“This is the first time that this is happening in 20 years,” he said, to cheers and applause from passengers and crew on the brand new Boeing 787 Dreamliner.

Families separated from loved ones since the start of a brutal 1998-2000 border war sat next to dignitaries on the flight, one of two that took off from Ethiopia on Wednesday morning.

Passenger Senait Tesfaye told Reuters she had not seen her grandmother Abrehet for more than two decades. Abrehet, she said, was deported to Eritrea alongside tens of thousands of Ethiopian residents of Eritrean origin at the start of the conflict.

“We have been longing to see her for all these years,” the 37-year-old said as she cradled her three-month-old son Naby. “He will now get to spend time with her more than I ever did as a child. Words cannot express the joy we feel as a family.”

Other passengers carried flags and wore t-shirts with slogans celebrating the advent of peace.

The airline marked the departure of the planes, the other a Boeing 737, with a message on its Facebook page: “The bird of peace has just flown to #Asmara #Familyreunion #Ethiopia #Eritrea.”

The two 90-minute flights were the icing on the cake of a peace push by new Ethiopian prime minister Abiy Ahmed, whose three months in office have turned politics in his country - Africa’s most populous after Nigeria - and the wider East African region on its head.

With the 41-year-old former intelligence officer at the helm, the ruling EPRDF coalition has ended a state of emergency, released political prisoners, restored phone links and announced plans to open up the economy - including letting foreigners take stakes in state-run Ethiopian Airlines.

MILLIONS IN SAVINGS

The airline - which operates Africa’s biggest fleet - stands to save millions of dollars a year by using Eritrean airspace instead of taking circuitous routes to some Middle East destinations, Tewolde told Reuters.

“This is a big occasion for us,” he said.

The importance for ordinary Ethiopians is far greater.

Surafel Demissie, an Ethiopian priest whose parents died during his childhood, had never been to Eritrea - the country of his mother’s birth - nor met any family members.

“God is about to bring us together. Today, God dismantled the wall,” he said.

Abiy’s predecessor as prime minister, Hailemariam Desalegn, told Reuters on board one of the flights that he felt “heartfelt joy”.

“There has been hatred between us for the last twenty years - now that has been reversed,” he said.

In his boldest move since coming to power in April, Abiy offered last month to make peace with Eritrea 20 years after the conflict in which an estimated 80,000 people died, many of them scythed down by machine-gun fire in World War One-style trench warfare.

Full-blown fighting ended in 2000 but troops have faced off ever since, depriving Ethiopia of access to Red Sea ports and leaving Eritrea to rely on lengthy military conscription to repel the threat from its giant neighbor.

Indefinite national service is the main reason thousands of young Eritrean men flee every month, many making the perilous journey across the Mediterranean in search of a better life in Europe.

Acknowledging that the conflict was placing an unsustainable economic burden on both sides, Abiy has since visited Asmara and Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki reopened his nation’s embassy in Addis Ababa on Monday.

The countries barred their citizens from visiting each other during the conflict and foreigners wanting to travel from one country to the other had to connect via a third country.

“It is crazily expensive,” said one Kenya-based Eritrean businesswoman.

Sponsored Ads