Ethiopia: Pro-govt militia foil attempt to kidnap foreign tourists

February 20, 2008 (ADDIS ABABA) — Pro-Ethiopia militia on Wednesday foiled an attempt by rebels allegedly backed by arch-foe Eritrea from abducting 28 foreign tourists in its remote northern Afar region, the state media reported.

There was no independent confirmation of the report which comes amid heightening tension between the Horn of Africa foes who are at odds over the precise path of their common frontier.

“Elements backed by the Eritrean government infiltrated the border around 11:00 am (08h00 GMT) today and attempted to kidnap 28 tourists, mostly of French nationality, in an area near Hamed Eila and Dalo in the Afar regional state,” state-run Ethiopian Television reported.

“Their attempt was foiled by the area’s militia,” the report said.

A tourist guide was injured and their car riddled with bullets in the crossfire, but the tourists were unharmed and had been taken to a nearby village where food and shelter was available, the television report said.

Last year, three British men and two women — one with dual British-Italian nationality and one French national — were abducted on March 1 in northeast Ethiopia along with 13 Ethiopian drivers and guides. The Europeans were released two weeks later.

Armed men reportedly from the Afar Revolutionary Democratic Unity Front (ARDUF) claimed last year’s kidnapping.

Relations between Ethiopia and Eritrea have been tense since the Red Sea state gained independence in 1993 after a 30-year struggle for independence from its giant neighbour.

Afar separatists started a low-level rebellion in the early 1990s against the division of the Afar people between the region’s three countries: Ethiopia, Eritrea and Djibouti.

Tourists visit the area mainly to see the Danakil depression, one of the lowest and hottest places on Earth known for its salt mines and active volcanoes.

(AFP)