Ethiopian Government Uses Commercial Aircraft to Transport Military Equipment

An Ethiopian Airlines 787 Jet. (Wikimedia Commons)

An investigative report published by CNN on October 6 accused the Ethiopian government of using Ethiopian Airlines, the country’s flag carrier airline, to transport arms, ammunition, and other military supplies to the Eritrean cities of Asmara and Massawa. Eritrea and Ethiopia are fighting together against separatists in Tigray, a region in north Ethiopia. If true, the report would be a violation of the Convention on International Civil Aviation (also called the Chicago Convention), and it would be one of many violations of international law in the Tigray War that has lasted over 11 months and led to the deaths of thousands and the displacement of more than two million people.

The report used photographic evidence and eyewitness testimonies to prove the existence of at least six such flights occurring in November 2020, which each carried commercial flight numbers but turned off their flight path, signaling when they neared Eritrea. CNN obtained images of air waybills—registers of items transported on commercial flights—which included “RIFFLES” [sic], ammunition, and food rations, all billed to the Ethiopian Ministry of Defense. The airline, however, “strongly refutes” these findings, and stated that “to the best of its knowledge and its records, it has not transported any war armament in any of its routes by any of its Aircraft.”

The Ethiopian-Eritrean cooperation in the Tigray war is one that would have surprised many until recently. The two countries fought in a decades-long war that was resolved when Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed took office in 2018. Abiy won the 2019 Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts to end the conflict. Abiy himself rose to power after being appointed the head of a multi-party coalition that had been headed by Tigrayans since it took power from a communist dictatorship in 1991. After taking office, he dissolved the coalition and formed the new Prosperity Party, which the Tigrayans declined to join. Relations between the central government and the Tigrayans, who make up approximately seven percent of Ethiopia’s population, continued to break down, and Abiy’s government cut ties with the government of the Tigray region in October 2020. 

Ethiopia benefits from the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), a trade partnership with the United States that allows duty-free imports to Ethiopia, adding more than $100 million in economic benefit yearly to Ethiopia as well as creating over 100,000 jobs. However, the AGOA stipulates that eligible countries must not engage in “gross violations of internationally recognized human rights.” The actions reported by CNN, if accepted as true by the U.S., would threaten Ethiopia’s membership in the AGOA. Furthermore, Ethiopian Airlines is a member of the Star Alliance, a lucrative group of 26 airlines. Ethiopian membership in a variety of international economic cooperatives, including but not limited to the ones mentioned above, are now at risk of termination. 

The Biden administration announced a new policy toward Ethiopia and Eritrea on September 18, threatening to impose sanctions on the two countries unless they immediately agreed to peace talks with Tigrayan leaders and allowed unfettered humanitarian aid access. An unnamed senior White House official stated that the sanctions regime was “deliberately calibrated to mitigate any undue harm to those already suffering from the conflict.” The targets of the sanctions were not made public, but they will cover both Ethiopia and Eritrea. 

Furthermore, a specific time horizon for the implementation of the sanctions was not given. Instead, only a vague multi-week grace period was implemented for the Ethiopian and Eritrean governments to improve their actions in the conflict. However, the CNN report reveals a broader pattern of international crimes than was previously known, increasing the likelihood that the sanctions will be implemented. But to date, no change in information on the grace period has been provided by the U.S.

Despite reaching a territorial stalemate, the war in Tigray has no end in sight, and it has already put at least 22 percent of the Tigrayan population on the brink of starvation. Millions of refugees have fled to Sudan, and Abiy is only strengthening his power. He was sworn in for his first full five-year term as prime minister (via the results of an election that Tigray did not participate in) on October 4. Despite increasing international outcry, his grip on power is only increasing, and the U.S. has not implemented any new sanctions.