By Muluken Yewondwossen
Addis Ababa, March 21, 2009 – The resumption of Ethiopian's flight to Hargeysa, Somaliland has been delayed.
The route to the capital of the semi-autonomous region in northern Somalia was scheduled to re-open in January 2009, after it was suspended in November 2008 following the five suicide bomb attacks on buildings occupied by the government and international agencies.
Leul T. Medhin, Acting Public Relation head of Ethiopian, told Capital the security threat has not yet diminished enough for Ethiopia's national carrier to resume the flight.
Ethiopian is the only large airline which continued to fly to Hargeysa following the collapse of the last stable Somalian government, which was led by Mohamed Siyad Barre, in 1991.
However, Capital has learnt that Ethiopian is assessing the possibility of flights to Berbera airport instead of Hargeysa.
According to sources from Hargeysa, terrorist attacks are still a major threat in the region.
"We can not say when exactly the flight to Hargeysa will commence," Leul said.
According to the source, Berbera's coastal airport is in good condition for big aircrafts to land on, but needs some minor repair work. "This port will be a good solution for passengers and Ethiopian," sources explained.
The airport has a 4,140m runway - one of the longest in Africa. This was built in 1974 by the Soviet Union, when Somalia was its ally, in order to counter the US military presence in the region during the Cold War.
The direct Ethiopian flights to Somaliland were popular amongst former residents, international agencies and khat exporter. Travelers who came from North America and Europe were using Ethiopian's direct flight. Currently, it takes them four days to travel to Hargeysa and other towns in the region.
Ethiopian generated 1.3 million dollars from the route last year.
Now, passengers heading to Hargeysa and other Somali regions have to travel to Djibouti and use a small private aviation company called Daallo. The connection costs travelers on average an extra 2,000 birr.
Explosions occurred five month ago at the presidential palace, government security posts, United Nations (UN) offices and an Ethiopian consular unit in both Somaliland and Bossaso, capital of Puntland. Compared to the rest of Somalia, the two semi-autonomous regions are relatively peaceful.
In the port of Bosasso, two huge blasts rocked the city as suicide bombers attacked two offices of the Puntland security forces, killing a woman cleaner and injuring six soldiers, residents and officials said.
At least 20 people were killed and more than 30 others injured in the attacks in Hargeysa, according to officials and witnesses. International media quoted witnesses saying the death toll from the two attacks totaled 28, and that at least 20 of the deaths occurred at the Ethiopian office in Hargeysa.
Source: The Capital

 

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