Hijackers who diverted an Ethiopian military plane to Sudan freed the remaining 40 passengers unharmed early today and surrendered after negotiations with Sudanese authorities.
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The hijackers, who were believed to be armed and who said they were Ethiopian students, had already freed 11 women and children hours after landing at Khartoum airport last night.
Sudanese Information Minister Ghazi Salah al-Din said the hijackers had been taken into custody after the 10-hour crisis. He said they had made no political demands but had been given an assurance they would not be handed back to Ethiopia.
"I think they just wanted to get out of the country," Mr Salah al-Din told CNNtelevision.
"What we were offering them was not to hand them over to Ethiopia and to deal with them fairly according to international law. They started seeing that they didn't have any other choice. They have been granted asylum, which does not confer any immunity from the crimes that have been committed."Qatar-based Al-Jazeeratelevision showed several youths, including a woman, who appeared to be the hijackers, being taken away in an airport bus.
Groups of military men, passengers of the hijacked Ethiopian Air Force Antonov 12 transport plane, shook hands with Sudanese officials on the tarmac after being released by the hijackers.
Ethiopian officials said the hijackers - who had asked to see American or British diplomats - were five students from an Ethiopian air force academy who had wanted visas to travel to the United States or Britain.
Red Cross, United Nations and Sudanese government officials had negotiated for several hours with the hijackers, who were armed with automatic weapons, according to one of the crew who managed to escape as the plane stood on the tarmac.
One hijacker, speaking a week after student protests triggered Ethiopia's worst unrest in years, said the hijack was motivated by political repression.
"People and students do not have the freedom of debate. People get killed in Ethiopia. This drove us to hijack the plane," said the hijacker. He was shown on al-Jazeera talking to reporters in the airport lounge and his remarks were translated into Arabic.
Around 40 people were killed in Addis Ababa last Wednesday when police fired on rioters after student protests degenerated into a violent looting spree. Police freed most of an estimated 3,000 students arrested after the riots yesterday.
An Ethiopian government source said the hijack was not linked to the protests, describing the group as economic migrants who had failed their aviation exams.
When they first landed they asked for fuel to fly on to Saudi Arabia, which is where people get jobs, the source said.
They are failed drop-outs, but they don't understand international law. It will take them 10 to 20 years in jail to understand that hijacking is against international law.
Passengers aboard the plane, which Ethiopian sources said had been on a flight from the northern Ethiopian town of Bahir Dar to Addis Ababa, included women and children related to army personnel, Ethiopian sources said.Salah al-Din said they had all been taken to a hotel.