http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/ethiopia/10643342/Hijacked-aircraft-lands-in-Geneva.html
"The [Ethiopian] government trumpets the fact that Ethiopia has achieved
economic growth of about 10 percent every year for the last decade. But the
benefits have yet to reach most of the country's 90 million people.
Ethiopia's national income per head is only $400, making it one of the
poorest countries in the world..."
Ethiopian Airlines hijacking: Why co-pilot might have taken extreme steps
to leave Repression, rigged elections and bans on leaving the country mean
it's no surprise that a co-pilot wanted out, writes David Blair
By David Blair
10:27AM GMT 17 Feb 2014
Desperate migrants go to extreme lengths to leave their homelands, but only
a select few resort to hijacking. The Ethiopian Airlines co-pilot who
landed his plane in Geneva joins a club that previously consisted of nine
Afghans who forced an airliner to fly to Stansted Airport in 2000.
In reality, the co-pilot's choice might not be as inexplicable as it
sounds. At least 620,000 Ethiopians live abroad, including 10 per cent of
all those with a university degree, according to the World Bank.
Ethiopians with marketable skills are highly likely to seek their fortunes
abroad: the country's emigration rate is 30 per cent for doctors and 17 per
cent for nurses. A qualified pilot would fall into the category of those
most likely to leave.
Two key "push factors" lie behind this outflow: repression and poverty.
Ethiopia is a de facto one-party state, dominated by a small autocratic
elite. Under the previous prime minister, Meles Zenawi, elections were
shamelessly rigged and the opposition simply closed down. Many Ethiopians
believed that Mr Meles favoured his own Tigray-Tigrinya ethnic group, who
comprise less than seven per cent of the population, for the most powerful
and privileged positions in the land.
The new prime minister, Hailemariam Desalegn, took over when Mr Meles died
in 2012. Although a less authoritarian figure, Mr Hailemariam has inherited
a state which imposes stifling restrictions on political freedom.
The government trumpets the fact that Ethiopia has achieved economic growth
of about 10 per cent every year for the last decade. But the benefits have
yet to reach most of the country's 90 million people. Ethiopia's national
income per head is only $400, making it one of the poorest countries in the
world.
All this means that many skilled people do their utmost to leave. The
government has made this difficult by imposing draconian restrictions on
emigration. Many Ethiopians are simply banned from leaving the country.
Three years ago, 60 technicians working for Ethiopian Airlines were given
jobs by other carriers based in the Gulf. Their employer simply passed
their names to the Immigration and Nationality Affairs Department - and all
were prevented from leaving the country.
The co-pilot who flew to Geneva might have had no legal avenue for leaving
Ethiopia permanently. He appears to have decided that hijacking a plane was
his only option, even if the price is spending time inside a Swiss jail.
Received on Mon Feb 17 2014 - 13:59:07 EST