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British team heads into desert seeking kidnapped five

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Published Date: 05 March 2007
By ROB CRILLY
A TEAM of British officials set off into Ethiopia's north-eastern desert yesterday in an attempt to trace five Britons kidnapped during a sight-seeing tour.
Mystery surrounds their whereabouts, with Ethiopia and Eritrea each accusing the other of exploiting their disappearance to highlight simmering tension over a border dispute. There has been no claim of responsibility.

A group of diplomats including hostage negotiators arrived in the town of Mekele on Saturday, the closest airstrip to the Britons' last known location 500 miles from Addis Ababa.

Hopes are high in the diplomatic community for a speedy and peaceful resolution although the SAS is reported to have been placed on standby.

Eritrea and Ethiopia traded accusations over who was to blame. Eritrea dismissed allegations that its forces snatched the five - including several diplomats. But witnesses claimed to have seen the three men and two women at an Eritrean military base over the border.



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  • Last Updated: 04 March 2007 9:35 PM
  • Source: The Scotsman
  • Location: Edinburgh
  • Related Topics: Ethiopia
 
1

Navvy,

05/03/2007 03:35:25

Still no explanation on what these FCO staff were doing in an area which FCO tells people not to enter.

2

Cadgers,

Perth 05/03/2007 08:06:07

#1 Because they're a**holes Navvy.

3

J.K.,

05/03/2007 08:08:33

Agents of the realm?

4

Honest Opinion,

France 05/03/2007 08:10:55

"Sending in a group[ of diplomats" - what's Britain coming to?? Send in the SAS more like!

5

Guga,

Rockall 05/03/2007 11:18:20

I'm beginning to wonder about the exact status of these so-called tourists, and what they were doing there.

It's not like the Westminster government to go to all that bother over ordinary tourists. Let's face it, normally they don't give a stuff.

6

CombatVet68,

USA 05/03/2007 23:16:17

#6 Reading Public

They do it, we do it, every one does it, because we need to feed the News Media. They have an insatiable appetite for the horrendous, the popular, the sensational. And then they distort the facts so that the story conforms to their own political agenda. I agree, send in the SAS, not politicians.

7

Zeba,

18/07/2009 16:14:39
I could find these people and the kidnappers wouldn't last five minutes.

 

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