borkena
March 22,2015
Ethiopian Air Force reportedly attacked two locations inside Eritrea on March 20,2015 says Tigrayonline – ardent pro-Tigray Peoples Liberation Front (TPLF) online news provider.Bisha gold mining site which is located 150 kilometers west of the Eritrean capital Asmara and arsenal at Mai Edaga were targets of the airstrike according to Tigrayonline.
Although Tigayonline seem to be close to the men in power in Ethiopia with access to insider information, it cited Al-Sahafa a Sudanese news provider.
The report indicated that Bisha mine sustained serious damage.
The Bisha Mine was apparently one of the main pillars of the Eritrean Economy and was operated by Canada based Nesvun Resources LTD
According to information from Nesvun, Bisha mine was established in the years between 2008 and 2010 at a cost of $250 million.
Ethiopian Air Force suffered numerous defections of fighter pilots in recent months of whom some did take a M -35 fighter helicopter with them. As things stand now, there is no indication that Ethiopian Air Force does have the capacity to engage in operations. If the attack really happened, Ethiopian government probably hired fighter pilots from elsewhere for this particular operation.
Tigraionline seem to indicate that Eritrea’s refusal to return the fighter plane is the cause for the recent attacks.It is to be recalled that the Ethiopian government issued a belligerent statement in the aftermath of the defection of pilots with a fighter M-35 helicopter.
So far there is no denial or confirmation from the Eritrean side. If the news is true, the incident might lead to an outright war and the Ethiopian government has numerous worries in its plate and might easily plunge the country into chaos.