ETHIOPIA: Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 737 Max-8 Crash Left No Survivors

An Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 737 Max-8 crashed shortly after take-off from Addis Ababa, killing all on board.

The airline said 149 passengers and eight crew members were on flight ET302 from the Ethiopian capital to Nairobi in Kenya.

It said 32 Kenyans, 18 Canadians, eight Americans and seven British nationals were among the passengers.

The crash happened at 08:44 local time, six minutes after the months-old Boeing 737 Max-8 took off.

Another plane of the same model was involved in a crash less than five months ago, when a Lion Air flight crashed into the sea near Indonesia with nearly 190 people on board.

The cause of the disaster is not yet clear. However, the pilot had reported difficulties and had asked to return to Addis Ababa, the airline said.

At this stage, we cannot rule out anything, Ethiopian Airlines CEO Tewolde Gebremariam said at Bole International Airport in Addis Ababa.

We cannot also attribute the cause to anything because we will have to comply with the international regulation to wait for the investigation.

Visibility was said to be good but air traffic monitor Flightradar24 reported that the plane's vertical speed was unstable after take-off.

An eyewitness at the scene said there was intense fire as the aircraft hit the ground.

The blast and the fire were so strong that we couldn't get near it, he said. Everything is burnt down.

First word of the crash came when Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed expressed his deepest condolences on Twitter.

Recovery operations were under way near the crash site around the town of Bishoftu, which is 60km (37 miles) south-east of the capital.

The plane was delivered to Ethiopian Airlines on 15 November last year. It underwent a rigorous first check maintenance on 4 February, the airline tweeted.

Mr Gebremariam told the news conference that passengers from more than 30 countries were on board the flight.

He said they included 32 Kenyans, 18 Canadians, nine Ethiopians, eight Italians, eight Chinese, eight Americans, seven Britons, seven French citizens, six Egyptians, five Germans, four Indians and four people from Slovakia.

Slovak MP Anton Hrnko later confirmed via Facebook that his wife and two children were on the plane.

Three Austrians, three Swedes, three Russians, two Moroccans, two Spaniards, two Poles and two Israelis were also on the flight.

There was also one passenger each from Ireland, Nepal, Saudi Arabia, Djibouti, Belgium, Indonesia, Somalia, Norway, Serbia, Togo, Mozambique, Rwanda, Sudan, Uganda and Yemen.

One person held a UN passport, the airline said. It believed some passengers could have been heading to a session of the UN Environment Assembly which begins in Nairobi on Monday.

At least a dozen of the victims were affiliated with the UN, and that this may include freelance translators.

World Food Programme executive director David Beasley said seven members of agency staff had died in the crash.

Among them was engineer Michael Ryan, a father of two, from Cork, Ireland. Taoiseach (Prime Minister) Leo Varadkar said Mr Ryan had been carrying out life-changing work in Africa

One of the Canadian victims was named as Prof Pius Adesanmi, an expert in African studies at Carleton University in Ottawa.

The pilot was named as Senior Captain Yared Getachew who had a commendable performance with more than 8,000 hours in the air, the airline said.

The plane's First Officer Ahmed Nur Mohammod Nur had 200 flight hours, it added.

Ethiopia declared Monday a national day of mourning.

Canadian PM Justin Trudeau said he was deeply saddened to hear of the crash, continued that: We join the international community in mourning the loss of so many lives.

French President Emmanuel Macron expressed solidarity with the people of Ethiopia and Kenya, tweeting: We share their sorrow.

António Guterres, the UN secretary-general, also tweeted about the crash.

African Union Commission chairman Moussa Faki Mahamat expressed utter shock and immense sadness while Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta said he was saddened.

Mahboub Maalim, executive secretary of the East African bloc Igad, said the region was in mourning.

I cannot seem to find words comforting enough to the families and friends of those who might have lost their lives in this tragedy, he said in a statement.

The 737 Max-8 aircraft is relatively new to the skies, having only been in commercial use since 2017.

Boeing said it was deeply saddened by the crash and offered to send a team to provide technical assistance.

Following the Lion Air crash last October, investigators said the pilots had appeared to struggle with an automated system designed to keep the plane from stalling, a new feature of the Boeing 737 Max.

The anti-stalling system repeatedly forced the plane's nose down, despite efforts by pilots to correct this, findings suggest.

There is no suggestion that the Ethiopian Airlines jet suffered similar issues on Sunday.

Ethiopian Airlines flies to many destinations in Africa, making it a popular carrier in a continent where many airlines fly only from their home country to destinations outside Africa.

It has a good reputation for safety, although in 2010 one of the company's aeroplanes crashed in the Mediterranean Sea shortly after leaving Beirut.

The incident killed 90 people on board.

The airline's highest fatalities prior to this came in a November 1996 crash during a hijacking on a flight from Addis Ababa to Nairobi.

One of the plane's engines stopped when the fuel ran out and although pilots attempted an emergency water landing, they hit a coral reef in the Indian Ocean and 123 of the 175 people on board were killed.


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ETHIOPIA: Ethiopian Airlines Expanding Routes In Africa

Ethiopian Airlines is accelerating its strategy of weaving a patchwork of new African routes to soak up traffic on the continent and fly customers towards its more lucrative flights to rapidly expanding Asian markets.

With a long-delayed African “open skies” revolution still mired in red tape, Ethiopian has been snapping up stakes in small carriers around the continent to pre-empt potential rivals and become the dominant pan-African airline.

The carrier is in talks with Democratic Republic of Congo, Congo Republic and Djibouti about either launching airlines or securing landing spots, CEO Tewolde GebreMariam said.

He also said in May the airline was looking to set up carriers in Equatorial Guinea and Guinea through joint ventures.

The task of African integration is not easy, Tewolde said in an interview. The context is the need for air transport. There is huge demand. We are responding to it.

Ethiopian’s push comes as Middle Eastern rivals who expanded heavily in Africa are feeling some pain from overcapacity, while African carriers such as South African Airways and Kenya Airways are on the back foot after losing money for years.

The success or failure of Ethiopian’s plan is being watched by long-haul competitors such as Turkish Airlines and suppliers led by Boeing and, more recently, Airbus.

Ethiopian’s fortunes are also important for Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s government, which has said it plans to sell a minority stake in the airline to domestic and foreign investors as part of broad economic reform pledges.

Ethiopian unveiled its 15-year expansion strategy in 2010, and started small. First it helped launch ASKY Airlines in the West African country of Togo and then acquired a 49 percent stake in Malawi’s flag carrier in southern Africa in 2013.

Since May, Ethiopian has announced plans to launch an airline in Mozambique, relaunched Zambia’s flag carrier, established a new airline in Chad to cover West and Central Africa and resumed flights to Somalia after a 41-year hiatus.

The prize is growing fast. Air traffic in Africa is forecast to grow 6 percent a year, twice as quickly as mature markets and faster than any other region over the next two decades.

Ethiopian is hoping to snare a greater share of capacity on flights between cities in Africa, which are already 90-percent controlled by African carriers.

In most cases so far, Ethiopian has taken minority stakes in start-up airlines and tried to implant its management culture, often in nations haunted by costly failures of state carriers.

Tewolde also wants to claw back market share on routes to and from the continent, dominated by Turkish and Gulf carrier Emirates. This year, 61 percent of capacity to or from Africa has been controlled by non-African carriers.

There are big risks.

Ethiopian is spending tens of millions of dollars in some of Africa’s toughest markets and the strategy of buying minority stakes to get a foothold abroad has failed spectacularly for some, such as Abu Dhabi’s Etihad.

Analysts worry accelerated expansion may spread Ethiopian too thinly if traffic doesn’t pick up fast enough at its new hubs in Togo, Malawi and Chad.

The regional hubs are designed partly to channel customers to Ethiopian’s main hub in Addis Ababa and so fill its direct flights to the Middle East and Asia.

Open skies?

There are also concerns that none is in a major African city. Lome is far smaller than west African cities such as Nigeria’s economic capital Lagos, or Abidjan in Ivory Coast, while Chad’s dusty desert capital is even smaller.

You want to build (a hub) in a place where you are going to get local traffic and connecting traffic, said Craig Jenks, president of consultancy Airline/Aircraft Projects Inc

Tewolde said the new airline in Chad would draw in passengers from Cameroon, Central African Republic, Niger, northern Nigeria and Sudan.

Yamlaksira Getachew, a management professor at Loyola Marymount University, warned Zambia’s relaunched flag carrier could steal traffic from Ethiopian’s existing southern African hub in neighbouring Malawi.

Ethiopian has been forced to adopt the piecemeal approach to expansion because full air transport liberalisation has failed to materialise, despite several attempts.

In 1999, 44 African countries signed the Yamoussoukro Decision in Ivory Coast’s capital giving airlines freedom to ferry passengers between two foreign countries.

But the agreement was barely implemented as governments moved to protect domestic carriers.

To try to revive the stalled process, 23 African governments signed another deal this year to forge a single aviation market.

So far, Ethiopian’s plan appears to be working. It says it has clocked average growth of 25 percent a year since 2010 and expects to carry nearly 10.6 million passengers this year, up from 3.7 million eight years ago.

Unlike many African rivals, it is also making money. Net profit rose 2 percent to $233 million in its 2017-18 fiscal year.

It says Western banks are helping to fund plans to boost its fleet of 108 planes, with 66 more on order.

Highlighting the potential riches at stake, Chinese banks are involved too, partly reflecting Beijing’s drive to build a new trade corridor to the Middle East and Africa, bankers said.


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ETHIOPIA: Oromo People Delighted After Their Leader Dawud Ibsa Returns

Hundreds of thousands of people have gathered in the capital of Ethiopia to welcome leaders of the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF), the latest members of a formerly banned rebel group to return home following a string of political reforms in the country.

The jubilant crowd waving OLF flags gathered at Addis Ababa’s Meskel Square on Saturday, where a large concert was held to welcome the group’s leader Dawud Ibsa and others, while similar events were held in Ethiopia’s Oromia region.

I am happy to be here after 26 years of struggle from outside of Ethiopia, Ibsa said. We will be a part of the peaceful struggle, he added.

We have been struggling to bring the changes that we are seeing now in Ethiopia. We are now seeing positive signs that include the respect for rule of law. That’s why we came here, said Ibsa.

Earlier on Saturday, nearly 1,500 OLF fighters returned from neighbouring Eritrea.

Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed who in April, became the first Oromo to hold the post has introduced a number of reforms since assuming office, as well as overseen the release of jailed dissidents, the unblocking of websites and moves to liberalise the economy.

The OLF was founded as a political organization in 1973 to advocate the right to national self-determination for the Oromo people, Ethiopia’s largest ethnic group, against what they perceived as Abyssinian colonial rule.

The group had a falling out with the ruling Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) in 1992 and soon began launching armed attacks.

In response, the government banned it and later declared it a terrorist organisation.

The crackdown on OLF deepened resentment among Oromos, whose months of anti-government protests, which also spread to the Amhara region, led to the resignation of former Prime Minister Hailemarian Desalegn earlier this year and his replacement by Abiy.

In July, the ban on OLF and two other groups was lifted as part of the prime minister’s efforts to bring various opposition groups back into Ethiopian politics.

Speaking from Addis Ababa, Jawar Mohammed, executive director at Oromia Media Network, called the return of the OLF leadership a historic day in their nearly 50-year-old struggle.

We are in a positive transition now. This day is a significant milestone in Ethiopia’s transition to democracy, he said, adding that the Oromos have a vested interest in keeping the country together.

It paves the way for a peaceful election within the next two years, he said.

Several people in the crowd at Meskel Square bore scars incurred during years of Oromo-led anti-government protests.

I never thought this day would come, said 27-year-old Arfase Elias, showing the scar from a bullet that hit her left leg 12 years ago during a demonstration in the restive town of Ambo.

For this flag, I have seen my brothers tortured, dying on the streets. I have seen the sacrifices they had made for freedom, she said.

Analysts say that with the return of Ibsa, the last bastion of armed struggle in Ethiopia has come to an end.

Ethiopia‘s government has signed an agreement to end hostilities with the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF), which it had previously labeled a terrorist movement.

The deal signed in the Eritrean capital, Asmara, on Tuesday appeared to be another step by Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed to improve security and diplomatic relations, reform institutions and open parts of the state-controlled economy.

Since the 1970s, the rebels have fought a low-level battle for self-determination for the Oromia region, which is Ethiopia’s largest and home to the Oromo ethnic group.

The OLF was initially part of a transitional government set up in 1991 by rebels from a coalition, which had driven former military ruler Mengistu Haile Mariam from power, but they soon fell out with the coalition.

The government has now signed a reconciliation agreement to end hostilities with the OLF’s exiled leader, Dawud Ibsa, who lives in exile in Asmara, the capital of neighbouring Eritrea, said Eritrea’s Information Minister Yemane Gebremeskel.

The agreement further states that the OLF will conduct its political activities in Ethiopia through peaceful means, he said on Twitter.

The group declared a unilateral ceasefire last month after parliament removed it from a list of banned terrorist groups that it had been part of since 2008.

The agreement is a huge boost for Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed.

Prime Minister Abiy himself is an Oromo and having a rebel group from his own community fighting his government would have been a huge setback for the raft of reforms that he has initiated in the country.

There may be additional reasons why the OLF signed the agreement, ending hostilities with the state.

They were getting most of their support from the Eritrean government and now that the Eritrean government has normalised relations with the Ethiopian government, that support is not forthcoming.

Abiy took office in April and his reforms have included extending an olive branch to dissidents overseas.

He has also acknowledged abuses by security services and ended a military stalemate with Eritrea that followed a 1998-2000 border war in which 80,000 people are thought to have died.


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ETHIOPIA: Ethiopian Airlines Heads To Eritrea After Opening The Door Of Peace

Long-time foes Eritrea and Ethiopia opened the door of peace on Tuesday after the first high-level visit from Asmara to Addis Ababa in nearly two decades, raising hopes for an end to one of Africa’s most intractable military stand-offs.

In a highly symbolic move, Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed said Ethiopian Airlines would restart flights to Eritrea for the first time since 1998 when conflict erupted between the two nations over their disputed border, with diplomatic relations broken off ever since.

Tuesday’s visit comes after Abiy said this month he would honour all the terms of a peace deal, suggesting he might be ready to settle the border dispute, a move welcomed by Eritrea.

Today is a day of joy because two identical peoples and two generations have been separated throughout that period. But through struggles, we have opened the door of peace, said Eritrean Foreign Minister Osman Saleh.

Abiy said he hoped the dispute would end with this generation and reiterated his willingness to accept the transfer of territory.

There will be lands swapped between the two countries but that will not matter, there will not be a border between us as our relationship will strengthen, he said at a state dinner with the Eritrean representatives.

For Ethiopians who have longed for heading to Massawa in Eritrea for a stroll, I call on you to be ready as Ethiopian Airlines will start services there soon, he said, without giving further details.

He also told artists to get ready to celebrate the Ethiopian New Year in Eritrea’s Asmara.

The Ethiopian calendar, sets September 11 as the 1st day of the New Year, and large celebratuions are usually held around the country to mark this day, which also signifies the approximate end of the rainy season.

Earlier Olympic athletes, singers, actors and religious leaders joined Abiy at Addis Abiba airport to welcome Saleh and other top officials, who were presented with garlands of flowers.

The flags of both countries fluttered from lampposts in Addis Ababa along with a banner reading Welcome!

Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki had welcomed Ethiopia’s positive messages and decided to send the delegation that included his adviser Yemane Gebreab and his envoy to the African Union.

The relationship between Ethiopia and Eritrea is about more than the border. When we make peace, it will benefit all of east Africa, Ethiopia’s foreign affairs spokesman Meles Alem said at the airport.

The border war killed some 80,000 people and the sides remain at odds over the status of the frontier town of Badme. The border remains militarised.

Abiy was at a rally hit by a grenade that killed two people on Saturday an attack that government affiliated media blamed on opponents of reforms announced since he took office in April, including airline and telecoms privatisations and the rapprochement with Eritrea.

Eritrea and Ethiopia broke off diplomatic relations two decades ago, although Asmara has a permanent delegation in Addis Ababa representing it at the African Union, whose headquarters are in the Ethiopian capital.

No Eritrean representatives have been part of an official visit for talks with the Ethiopian government since at least 1998.


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