THIS is the first picture of Rossanna Moore, one of the four Britons kidnapped by rebels in Ethiopia. The photograph, which shows Moore as a student, was released by childhood friends who spoke of her passion for Ethiopia and its culture.
They added that Moore – who has dual British and Italian citizenship – was a woman who had immersed herself in the life of Addis Ababa, the Ethiopian capital.
This weekend there were hopes that the hostages may be released after confirmation from the Ethiopian government that contact had been established with the kidnappers, although this was denied by the Foreign Office.
A group of Ethiopian tribal leaders, accompanied by 30 militiamen armed with AK47s, are on their way to the Eritrean border to negotiate the release of the hostages.
Moore, 49, was with three British men – whose names have not yet been revealed – and Laure Beaufils, a Frenchwoman, on a camping trip in the Afar desert, when they were kidnapped 12 days ago at gunpoint by more than 20 militants. All five are linked to the British embassy in Addis Ababa.
Friends of Moore, who comes from the northern Italian town of Udine, spoke of her passion for Arabic and other Middle Eastern languages, and praised her ability to establish a rapport with people from different cultures.
They also said that she and her husband, Michael Moore, director of the British Council in Addis Ababa, were planning to leave Ethiopia soon, as his three-year posting was coming to an end.
Grazia Sepiacci, a doctor and kidney specialist, is a childhood friend of Moore who remains in close touch. She said that Moore had e-mailed her before the trip.
Sepiacci said: “My heart has been in my mouth since I heard the news. We were friends at school. There were three of us and they used to call us the Three Graces. We have stayed in touch ever since.”
Sepiacci said that Moore’s ability to communicate, developed through her passion for amateur dramatics, would help her in her current predicament.
“Rossanna is an absolutely intelligent woman, with a great talent for languages and for human relations. She picks up the local languages wherever she goes,” said Sepiacci.
“Rossanna is a strong woman with great resources of character. She will certainly react to the situation and not lose heart.”
Moore grew up in the picturesque village of Cividale del Friuli, near Udine. Her parents ran a shoe shop, which closed about 10 years ago. Her father died shortly afterwards.
Locals still remember Moore fondly. “She has a sunny personality, communicative and kind,” said Odorico Madotto, who runs a perfume shop.
Moore left Udine about 25 years ago and studied Middle Eastern languages in Venice, taking her degree in Arabic.
Afterwards she did another brief Arabic course in Cairo, where she met Michael, her future husband. He was in Cairo at the time teaching English at a language school.
The Moores have a son, Matteo, 27, believed to be at a university in Germany. Michael Moore’s subsequent career with the British Council led the couple around the world with postings to Moscow, Ankara, Tashkent, the capital of Uzbekistan, and Tirana, capital of Albania.
Sepiacci said that Uzbekistan was Rossanna Moore’s favourite posting, while she hated her job in the Italian consulate in Tirana, as she had to deal with harrowing cases of Albanian prostitutes being expelled from Italy.
Two weeks before the trip to Afar, Moore had directed a production of Macbeth for an amateur dramatic company.
Beaufils, also a member of the company, is an education adviser connected to the British embassy and is believed to be the girlfriend of one of the three kidnapped men.
The British party set off on their trip to the Afar desert on February 25 in two embassy vehicles.
They first visited Erta Ale, Ethiopia’s largest active volcano, and then headed towards the Asal salt lakes, near the Eritrean border.
They stopped at a guesthouse in Hamedela – 300 miles north of Addis Ababa — as it was the last post before a two-hour drive to the lakes.
Hussein Darissa, 18, a witness to the kidnapping, said that more than 20 gunmen arrived in the village during the night and moved from hut to hut, seizing Ethiopian hostages before arriving at the guesthouse.
The five westerners and about eight Ethiopians were then marched towards the Eritrean border with 12 camels which the captors took from the village.
As they left, the kidnappers destroyed the British embassy vehicles with hand grenades and sprayed them with bullets.
Although initially Eritrean troops were accused of kidnapping the Britons, the Foreign Office now believes that Afar separatists were behind the abduction.
A splinter group of the separatist organisation – the Afar Revolutionary Democratic Front – is suspected. It kidnapped a party of Italians in 1995 but released them three weeks later.
The Foreign Office this weekend said that it was investigating the latest claims.
