By Staff Reporter
August 4, 2020 (Ezega.com) -- Foggy weather in the Ethiopian capital disrupted air traffic as several flights coming to Addis Ababa Bole international airport were forced to divert to nearby airports, the Ethiopian airlines said in a statement.
Fog enveloped the central capital and its adjoining areas in the morning and the situation deteriorated in the afternoon.
According to the airline, the cloudy weather and fog had reduced visibility at the runway of the airport at noon, forcing authorities to reschedule flights leaving the capital.
The foggy weather condition has disrupted several scheduled flights until late on Tuesday but the airline did not mention the number of flights interrupted.
It also did not specify where the incoming flights are landing in other airports of the country.
Meanwhile, Police told the federal first instance court that they have finalized the investigation on Bekele Gerba, one of the alleged masterminds of the recent religious and ethnic-based attacks in which more than 200 civilians were killed and properties damaged.
The crime investigation team told the court that it has finalized its investigation and want to place charges against the defendant.
According to the police investigation, the defendant caused property damage worth more than 37 million Birr in the transport sector alone by sending messages ordering organized groups to create chaos across Oromia towns and Addis Ababa.
More than one hundred civilians were killed and hundreds of people displaced following the message conveyed by the defendant with the intention of taking power illegally, police said
Police said following the messages conveyed by the defendant, violent youth groups were engaged in the destroying houses and looting properties and torching hotels, shops, factories, public and religious institutions in different parts of the Oromia region.
The defendant is also accused of blocking roads at Burayu town and blocked dead body of late popular singer Hachalu Hundessa from passing to Ambo town.
Police said Bekele led the road obstruction at Burayu and personally involved in the return of the corpse from Burayu and took it to the office of Oromia Prosperity Party.
The plan, according to police, was to instigate violence in Addis Ababa and demolish the statue of Emperor Menelik II and bury the corpse of the late Hachalu at the site instead.
Lawyers of the defendant on their part requested the court to release their client on bail. They claimed inciting violence does not forbid the suspect's right to bail.
”I am a political party leader, not army general, and cannot cause this much damage,” said Bekele who requested for release on bail.
After hearing both sides, the court adjourned the case for the 6th of August 2020 to make a decision on the bail request.
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