Five Britons missing after French tourists kidnapped in Ethopia

Five Britons are missing after 10 French tourists were kidnapped in the remote desert of northern Ethiopia, it was reported today.

All the tourists were in a convoy of four vehicles in Dalol, 500 miles north-east of Addis Ababa, travelling to salt mines in the Afar region yesterday, when they were kidnapped, according to a tour operator who reported the incident.

The British citizens were believed to be in the convoy as well, he said today.

The French Foreign Ministry confirmed that Western tourists had been kidnapped in Ethiopia, but declined to say how many or indicate their nationalities.

A British Foreign Office spokesman said officials were aware that a number of Western nationals were reported missing in north-eastern Ethiopia. He said British Embassy staff were urgently checking with their Ethiopian counterparts.

Ethiopia’s government spokesman, Zemedkun Tekle, said officials were struggling to confirm the reports because the region was so remote.

Bandits and a small Afar rebel group operate in the area the tourists visited, which is known for its difficult terrain and has an average annual temperature of 94 degrees Fahrenheit (34 Celsius), but it often gets much hotter.

The government requires all convoys to have a minimum of two cars and always travel with armed guards.

The tour operator also said that the tourists travelled with two armed police and an Afar guide.

In 1995, rebels from the Afar Revolutionary Democratic Unity Front acknowledged kidnapping Italian tourists in the region. The ARDUF has been fighting for years against Ethiopia and Eritrea over lands inhabited by ethnic Afar.

The tour operator said the tourists were clients of Origins Ethiopia, a new tour agency specialising in Afar, and company officials told him they had been unable to contact the tourists.

Origins Ethiopia officials did not immediately provide comment.

They left Mekele on Sunday for a two-day drive to Hamedali, a remote village that is the last staging post before visiting the salt lakes, the operator said.

Then they went on a two-hour drive to Dalol to visit the salt mines and were supposed to return to Hamedali, he said.