SA mercy flight delayed

2005-02-01 08:49

Pietermaritzburg - Two aircraft on a South African mercy flight to tsunami victims in Somalia were expected to arrive in that country on Tuesday morning after being delayed at Entebbe in Uganda.

Fred Rutter, owner of Aero Trade whose Antonov planes were involved, said if the weather remained good, the aircraft would land about 08:30.

Pilots for the flights were given the green light to fly over Ethiopian airspace after being delayed in Uganda on Monday.

The Gift of the Givers' aid mission to Somalia, led by the Pietermaritzburg-based foundation's director Imtiaz Sooliman, will deliver 40 tons of aid to tsunami victims in Somalia.

They were denied permission to fly through Ethiopian airspace on Monday morning. The mission will now fly a different route, via Nairobi, Kenya, and expect to arrive in Somalia this morning.

"The first reason they gave us is that they don't have good relations with Somalia, then they told us that any flight that goes through their airspace requires UN sanction," said Sooliman. "Of course we have UN sanction, they are just playing games."

The team of 24 includes seven doctors, representatives from SA foreign affairs and the media. They remained at Entebbe International Airport overnight.

They were due to land in the Somali port city Busaso and then on to Hafun.

Sooliman said the Gift of the Givers and the airline company contacted the UN in Geneva and that "full diplomatic pressure" was being applied.

He also hoped South African Foreign Affairs Minister Nkosasana would intervene.

He also called the Ethiopian government, saying: "We expect co-operation from them because they always ask South Africa for assistance in the form of ministerial delegations to South Africa for capacity building."

"This is one of the major events in Somalia for 12 years it will probably cause more tension between Ethiopia and Somalia."

Meanwhile, doctors expressed frustration at the hold-up. "We could have seen 400 patients in this time," agreed two volunteer doctors from Johannesburg.

- The Witness