Air force chief resigns

Knutti faced many awkward questions after the fatal dinghy accident on June 12 Keystone

Walter Knutti, the commander of Switzerland's air force, has resigned eight days after a military rafting accident killed five soldiers.

Knutti was asked to resign on Thursday, said Swiss armed forces commander Roland Nef. No successor has been announced.

A statement released by the defence ministry on Friday said that Markus Gygax, Knutti’s former deputy, would replace him in the interim.

The request for Knutti to resign was not directly attributable to the accident on the River Kander in canton Bern on June 12, Nef told a media conference. But he said it revealed the 60-year-old commander’s misjudgements leading up to the accident.

Knutti had forwarded promotion applications for officers without reviewing the files of the applicants, Nef said.

Two weeks prior to the fatal rafting expedition Knutti rubber-stamped a promotion of the officer who would organise the trip, although the officer had not reached the minimum age of 30 years.

An investigation into Knutti’s records following the accident revealed two more similar cases.

Order

“I want order in the army. Where there is no order, I will enforce it, ” Nef said. “I lead and I act, and I expect the same of my subordinates.”

Nef acknowledged Knutti’s service and his loyalty, but said the cases represented a breach of trust and that he required confidence in the people who work for him.

Nef’s move was fully supported by Defence Minister Samuel Schmid, said Schmid’s spokesman, Jean-Blaise Defago.

The rightwing Swiss People’s Party on Friday said the wrong man had gone. “Knutti is a scapegoat,” said party spokesman Alain Hauert and suggested that Schmid, a party moderate, ought to take responsibility.

The centre-left Social Democratic Party welcomed Knutti’s resignation, but reiterated a longstanding call for a review into the practices within the armed forces. Both the Swiss Officers Association and the centre-right Christian Democratic Party welcomed the resignation.

Investigation

On Friday afternoon, prior to the announcement of Knutti’s resignation, a defence ministry spokeswoman told Swiss radio that the accident was now being investigated by military prosecutors.

The rafting trip, designed to strengthen morale, had not been included in the company’s daily or weekly agenda, she revealed on Friday.

The unnamed officer who organised the trip survived the accident with a broken jaw and is now the subject of a preliminary inquiry that could be expanded to others, she said.

The army has assigned 150 soldiers to continue a search in the area of Lake Thun for the fifth soldier, who is missing and presumed dead.

The last time a senior commander in the Swiss military resigned was on March 6, 1992, when Walter Jung stepped down following a near-miss between a Swissair jet and an air force Tiger fighter.

swissinfo with agencies

Recent army accidents

July 12, 2007: six recruits die in an avalanche on the Jungfrau in the Bernese Oberland, the worst accident in 15 years for the armed forces.

October 12, 2001: an Alouette III helicopter hits a cable near Crans-Montana in canton Valais and crashes, killing all four people on board.

May 25, 2001: an Alouette III helicopter hits a cable near Delémont in canton Jura, killing the pilot and three border guards.

November 12, 1997: a Pilatus Turbo-Porter aircraft crashes during an exercise near Simmental in canton Bern. The pilot and four passengers die.

June 22, 1994: a civilian helicopter collides with a Swiss army Super Puma helicopter and crashes. A British couple and the pilot are killed.

April 27,1993: an army Pilatus Porter is caught up in high winds and flies into a cliff on the Finsteraarhorn in canton Bern. Three people die.

November 2, 1992: six people die when a munitions depot blows up near Susten in canton Bern.