AMISOM mourns Alalo

The late police commissioner Christine Alalo who died aboard the Ethiopian airlines plane that crashed will be remembered for her commitment as a leader at the African Union Police in Somalia.

Until her demise, Alalo was the acting police commissioner of the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM). Caetano Madeira, the special representative of the chairperson of the African Union Commission commended Alalo for the dedication, commitment and professionalism with which she led the African Union Police in Somalia since 2015, and for the very positive results she was able to obtain in that capacity.

In a press release, the ambassador extended his condolences to the Government and the people of republic of Uganda.

"The entire AMISOM family is with the people and the government of Uganda, with Emmanuel and Alvin, sons of our beloved C.P Christine Alalo, in this moment of sorrow and despondency. May her soul rest in peace," Madeira said.

The Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 737 crashed Sunday morning en route from Addis Ababa to Nairobi, killing all 149 passengers and eight crew on board.

The plane took off at 8:38am (0538 GMT) from Bole International airport and lost contact six minutes later near Bishoftu, a town some 60kilometers south east of Addis Ababa by road.

Alalo was coming from police training in Italy from where she was expected to return to her workplace in Mogadishu, Somalia. Alalo's brother, Peter Elama, who last talked to her said the senior police officer called prior to setting off from Italy and informed him that she was dying to meet her family before returning to Somalia, hence getting onto the ill-fated aircraft.

Alalo is survived by two sons. Her husband Alex Kamujuni perished in a road accident 15 years ago.

 

The last major accident involving an Ethiopian Airlines passenger plane was a Boeing 737-800 that exploded after taking off from Lebanon in 2010, killing 83 passengers and seven crew members.