UK Tourists Kidnapped in Ethiopia
According to Reuters in the New York Times, a senior Ethiopian official accused Eritrean forces of kidnapping five Britons and 13 Ethiopians and taking them to a military camp. The tourists included diplomats from the British embassy in Addis Ababa. They went missing on Thursday in a remote area of the Horn of Africa nation. To help free those who have been kidnapped, Britain has sent a six-strong team of senior Foreign Office officials to Ethiopia. The groups disappeared while visiting the northeast Afar region, considered one of the world's most hostile terrains, tour companies said.
The Associated Press reported in the Star Tribune that fifteen French and British tourists were kidnapped. The French Foreign Ministry confirmed Friday that Western tourists have been kidnapped in Ethiopia, but declined to say how many or indicate their nationalities. The tourists were in a convoy of four vehicles in Dalol and traveling to salt mines in the Afar region, a businessman and a tour operator who work in the area said. A diplomat who spoke on the condition said one of those kidnapped was Rossanna Moore, wife of Michael Moore, director of the British Council in Ethiopia.