Oldjet
14th Nov 2003, 04:20
Found this little gem about a validated foreign pilot!
Associated Press
2003-11-06
ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia (AP) -- The personal pilot for a U.N. Special Envoy was
expelled from Eritrea for alleged spying, a U.N. official said Thursday.
Eritrean authorities accused Bruno Begaud, a French citizen who piloted an 8-seat
executive jet for U.N. Special Envoy Legwaila Joseph Legwaila, of spying at
the airport in Massawa, located on the Red Sea, U.N. spokeswoman Gail Bindley
Taylor Sainte said.
Begaud drove past an Eritrean checkpoint at the airport with his girlfriend
on the back of his motorcycle about four weeks ago, Sainte said. He later told
Eritrean security officers that he was lost, she added.
Begaud, 45, was ordered out of the country earlier this week, Sainte said.
``We believe that he was just lost, however it was felt there was more to it
than that,'' Sainte said. ``He was declared persona non-grata and asked to
leave the country and he has indeed left the country.''
Sainte refused to comment on unconfirmed reports that Begaud, who works for a
South African charter company, had been roughed up during a four-hour
interrogation and hit in the ribs with a rifle butt.
The expulsion comes as the U.N. Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea has come
under criticism. The 4,200 peacekeepers patrol a zone between the two countries
which fought a two-year border war.
The U.N. troops have opened an investigation into a shooting incident
Saturday in the demilitarized zone that left one Eritrean soldier dead. The
peacekeepers said initial reports indicated that uniformed men from the Ethiopian side
of the border were involved.
On Thursday, the Ethiopian government accused UNMEE of implicating Ethiopian
troops in the skirmish. In a two-page statement released by the Ministry of
Information, the government accused the peacekeepers of trying to ``disseminate
unfounded information.''
Major General Robert Gordon, the U.N. military commander, had said they found
bloodstains and evidence of a firefight 15 kilometers (10 miles) from a U.N.
platoon post, but he insisted that there was no evidence that Ethiopian troops
were involved and said that cattle rustlers could be to blame.
Associated Press
2003-11-06
ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia (AP) -- The personal pilot for a U.N. Special Envoy was
expelled from Eritrea for alleged spying, a U.N. official said Thursday.
Eritrean authorities accused Bruno Begaud, a French citizen who piloted an 8-seat
executive jet for U.N. Special Envoy Legwaila Joseph Legwaila, of spying at
the airport in Massawa, located on the Red Sea, U.N. spokeswoman Gail Bindley
Taylor Sainte said.
Begaud drove past an Eritrean checkpoint at the airport with his girlfriend
on the back of his motorcycle about four weeks ago, Sainte said. He later told
Eritrean security officers that he was lost, she added.
Begaud, 45, was ordered out of the country earlier this week, Sainte said.
``We believe that he was just lost, however it was felt there was more to it
than that,'' Sainte said. ``He was declared persona non-grata and asked to
leave the country and he has indeed left the country.''
Sainte refused to comment on unconfirmed reports that Begaud, who works for a
South African charter company, had been roughed up during a four-hour
interrogation and hit in the ribs with a rifle butt.
The expulsion comes as the U.N. Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea has come
under criticism. The 4,200 peacekeepers patrol a zone between the two countries
which fought a two-year border war.
The U.N. troops have opened an investigation into a shooting incident
Saturday in the demilitarized zone that left one Eritrean soldier dead. The
peacekeepers said initial reports indicated that uniformed men from the Ethiopian side
of the border were involved.
On Thursday, the Ethiopian government accused UNMEE of implicating Ethiopian
troops in the skirmish. In a two-page statement released by the Ministry of
Information, the government accused the peacekeepers of trying to ``disseminate
unfounded information.''
Major General Robert Gordon, the U.N. military commander, had said they found
bloodstains and evidence of a firefight 15 kilometers (10 miles) from a U.N.
platoon post, but he insisted that there was no evidence that Ethiopian troops
were involved and said that cattle rustlers could be to blame.