Armed men wearing Eritrean army uniforms| Surprise meter pinged a bit with that |
kidnapped five British tourists with links to the UK government in a remote desert in north-eastern Ethiopia, sources said yesterday. The incident happened on Thursday at the same time as up to ten French tourists in another party were also reported missing, believed kidnapped.
The UK tourists - some of them connected to the British Council, Foreign Office and Department for International Development Not just "connected to the British Council". From the UK FCO travel advisory:A group of western nationals, including British Nationals went missing in North East Ethiopia on 1 March. Five of those are members of staff, or relatives of members of staff, at our Embassy in Addis Ababa. Pending further clarification we advise against all travel to the Afar and Danakil regions of North Eastern Ethiopia.
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- were travelling in a convoy with armed escorts to visit sites of antiquity and unique geological formations in Afar, about 500 miles from the capital, Addis Ababa. Hundreds of tourists travel the northern route each year but they have to be prepared for blistering temperatures and encounters with hostile tribesmen. | And apparently, troops from neighboring countries. |
While it is possible Afar rebels have taken the group hostage, diplomats are investigating the possibility they were seized by Eritrean soldiers who had crossed the border.
And a source in the tourist industry in Addis Ababa, who supplied a cook and guide to the Britons, said: "There was a group of Eritrean soldiers in full uniform who crossed into Ethiopian territory. "They stopped the convoy and made the passengers get out and marched them over the border into Eritrea. It looks as if they may have been taken by the Eritreans in order to highlight their border dispute with Ethiopia." He said the party was about 10 miles from the border when the soldiers appeared.
It is understood that Western diplomats were trying to make urgent contact with the Eritrean government to establish where the tourists were being held. Tony Blair, the Prime Minister, was last night being kept up to date with developments. British officials said that the government's emergency planning committee, Cobra, had met to discuss the issue of the missing tourists. And a 10-strong "crisis team" is being sent to Ethiopia to help deal with the response to the kidnapping, the Prime Minister's office said.
The British group was camping in the small town of Hamedali, a jumping off point for visits to spectacular salt lakes, geysers and deep fissures at the meeting point of three tectonic plates. They set out on the two-hour drive to Dalol to visit the lakes on Wednesday on a route that skirted close to the border with Eritrea, but never returned. | And their fates are still unlearned... |
Ethiopia went to war with its tiny northern neighbour in the late 1990s over the disputed frontier. The United Nations has drawn up a new route for the border, but Ethiopia has so far refused to pull back to the revised position.
Banditry is rife in border areas and rebels linked to Somali groups have taken hostages in the past, but the involvement of Eritrean raiding parties would represent a new departure. Tourists have also been kidnapped in the region before by local people. In 1995, rebels from the Afar Revolutionary Democratic Unity Front snatched a party of Italian tourists, who were eventually released unharmed. Increasing numbers of hardy tourists are making their way to the remote Afar region. Vast salt plains, active volcanoes and brightly coloured mineral deposits make for a spectacular landscape.
Afar is known as the cradle of humanity. Archaeologists have dug up the world's oldest stone tools here as well as the skeleton of Lucy - a 3.2 million-year-old ancestor of humans. Margaret Beckett, the Foreign Secretary, confirmed that five people connected with the British embassy were missing. "We are in close touch with the family members of our staff. And I would ask the media to respect their privacy at this difficult time." A Foreign Office spokeswoman added that the party had been on an organised tour, in a well-known tourist region and warned other Britons to steer clear of the area. |