Ethiopia in contact with kidnappers

The government has been in contact with the kidnappers of a European tour group, Ethiopia’s foreign minister said today.

“Those who are responsible are being reached through different channels and we’re hoping that these people will be released unharmed,” Foreign Minister Seyoum Mesfin told journalists.

Seyoum did not give any other details about the contacts.

He said that the captives are in the Afar region that straddles Ethiopia and neighbouring Eritrea, but declined to speculate in which country they were being held.

“We urge those who are responsible for this kidnapping to release those people safe, and the earlier, the better,” Seyoum said.

The minister emphasised the captives were safe, but advised patience.

The group – five employees of the British Embassy in Addis Ababa or their relatives – were abducted along with 13 Ethiopian drivers or translators on March 1.

Four of the Europeans are believed to be British citizens, including one of Italian origin; the other is French. Five of the Ethiopians are believed to have escaped or been released.

British and Italian officials said Friday that they had information that the group was unharmed, but they had not been able to independently confirm this.

“We have had indications that there are people who are saying the hostages are OK,” the Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett said in Brussels on Friday.

“Obviously the issue of where they are is still something that’s having to be looked at.”

Seyoum said his country won’t use military force to try to secure the tour group’s release, something he first said on Friday.

On Monday, investigators examined two embassy cars marked by bullet holes in Hamedali, which is the last staging post before the region’s famous salt lakes. An embassy official said nobody was believed to have been in the vehicles at the time they were shot.

The attack did not appear to be a robbery; mobile phones and luggage were still in the cars.

Police in Afar say their investigations show the group was kidnapped by dozens of armed men and taken into Eritrea. Eritrea has denied any involvement.

Relations between Ethiopia and Eritrea have been strained since Eritrea gained independence from the Addis Ababa government in 1993 following a 30-year guerrilla war.

Seyoum agreed that Ethiopia’s relations with Eritrea were bad.

“Where would (relations between) Ethiopia and Eritrea go from where it is now? We have the worst relations with Eritrea,” he said today.