HAMED ELA, Northern Ethiopia –
Security forces searching for five people linked to the British embassy, who were kidnapped in Ethiopia’s remote Afar region, said yesterday their captors had taken them across the border into Eritrea.
Asmara has vehemently denied charges by regional officials that Eritrean soldiers were responsible for last week’s abduction and the Addis Ababa government has not repeated the accusation.
But senior security officers leading the hunt in the northeastern region and local people all blamed Eritrea.
“Our information is that Eritrean troops came into Ethiopia, kidnapped people and then went away to Eritrea again. The kidnappers were wearing Eritrean military uniforms,” said Inspector Adem Musa, the regional police chief.
Local army commander Gebremarian Hadush also blamed Eritrea and said the hostages were being held in Wiema on the other side of the frontier.
He said Afar separatists based in Eritrea might also be involved. “They work together with the Eritreans. They must have done this together,” he said.
Asked if the military were preparing a rescue mission, he replied: “That is in the hands of the federal government. We will take that measure if it is an order.”
A three-member British investigation team left the kidnap area yesterday but there was no sign it had made progress.
The five hostages, who include diplomats and other people linked to the British embassy in Addis Ababa, are believed to have been kidnapped about 50 kilometers away in Hamad-Ile.
Investigators on Monday found two of their vehicles abandoned there, riddled by shrapnel.
Police in the town declined to give more details of the investigation on national security grounds.
“Our teams are out there. We are doing everything we can,” said one police officer who declined to give his name.
Afar is home to one of the world’s hottest and driest climates, where the nomadic Afar people roam in barren landscapes of mountains and dry riverbeds in temperatures that often reaching 45 degrees Celsius.
A Foreign Office spokeswoman in the Ethiopian capital said: “The discovery of the vehicles has been very distressing for the families of the missing people. We want to stress that we have no reason to believe that the people were in the vehicles.”
Inhabitants of Hamad-Ile said about 50 men in Eritrean uniforms grabbed the hostages and then threw a hand grenade to disable their vehicles and prevent pursuit.
Witnesses said some of the Europeans’ personal belongings remained in the vehicles, suggesting robbery was not the motive.
No one has claimed responsibility for the kidnapping, or demanded ransom.
