About 150 Ethiopian troops, including a senior commander, have deserted the country’s army and escaped to Addis Ababa’s arch-foe nation Eritrea, officials said on Thursday.
They said the desertions, which still remained unexplained, were the first to hit the Ethiopian military, but Asmara attributed them to a growing disenchantment with the ruling party.
”According to our reports, around 150 members of the Ethiopian army defected to Eritrea on Tuesday,” an official with the United Nations border mission told Agence France-Presse (AFP) on condition of anonymity.
”This seems to be the first massive defection of Ethiopian soldiers … we have no information concerning the reason of this defection,” the official said.
Defence Ministry spokesperson Dawit Asefa only confirmed the defection of General Kemal Gelchu on Tuesday.
”An Ethiopian general, Kemal Gelchu, escaped to Eritrea two days ago, that’s the only confirmation we have,” Dawit told AFP by phone.
An Eritrean government website said the defection pointed to a growing disaffection by Ethiopians with the government, which it blamed for ”suppressing the struggle of opposition organisations and failing to honour the outcome of the popular election and desperately trying to prolong its stay in power”.
”As a vivid demonstration of these developments … [a] senior commander of the enemy force … and tens of other army commanders including colonels together with hundreds of soldiers safely arrived in Eritrea … along with their full logistics, communication equipment and military hardware,” Eritrea’s information ministry said in the website.
Relations between the two Horn of Africa nations have remained tense since they fought a two-year border war that claimed the lives of about 80 000 people and continue to trade blame over the unresolved border demarcation.
In addition, Addis Ababa repeatedly accuses Asmara of supporting rebel movements in Ethiopia in a bid to destabilise the government. — AFP
