By Les Neuhaus
Associated Press
Monday, March 5, 2007; A12
MEKELE, Ethiopia, March 4 -- Eritrea on Sunday dismissed allegations that its forces had crossed into neighboring Ethiopia and kidnapped five Britons affiliated with their country's embassy and 13 Ethiopians who were touring a remote border region.
In Ethiopia, two government officials had alleged on Saturday that Eritrea was responsible for the group's disappearance near the countries' long-disputed border. But the Foreign Affairs Ministry said Sunday that the government was still investigating to determine the identity of the kidnappers.
The tour group disappeared Thursday while traveling in Ethiopia's Afar region, a barren expanse of salt mines and volcanoes 500 miles northeast of the capital, Addis Ababa. The Britons are employees of the British Embassy or their relatives, and Britain has sent a 10-member crisis team to help secure their release.
Communications and travel in Afar are extremely difficult. The region is not heavily traveled by foreigners, in part because of its proximity to the border, although the moonlike landscape draws adventure tourists. Travelers are required to have armed guards.
Eritrean Information Minister Ali Abdu said reports by two senior Ethiopian officials that Eritrean commandos seized the group were fabricated. Relations between the countries have been strained since Eritrea gained independence from Ethiopia in 1993 following a 30-year guerrilla war.
"Simply denying this is not enough," Abdu said. "People have to ask what is the motive behind this accusation."
Later Sunday, Ethiopia appeared to play down the allegations.
"Currently, pertinent government bodies are investigating to identify the kidnappers," the Foreign Affairs Ministry said in a statement read during the evening news on the state-owned Ethiopia Television.
Last week, the BBC, quoting unidentified government sources, said there was a "national security dimension" to the disappearance of the Britons. British officials have not commented on the report.
Late Saturday, the state-run Ethiopian News Agency said five of the 13 Ethiopians in the tour group were found near the border with Eritrea, but it was not clear whether they had escaped or were released.
Also Sunday, a group of French tourists who had also been missing since Thursday arrived in Mekele, the Afar region's capital, and said they had not been kidnapped, as was previously believed.
"Not at any time were we unsafe," said one of the tourists, who declined to give his name.
He said the group simply did not have a satellite phone and so could not check in with its tour group.
Bandits and a small rebel group operate in Afar, where the famous 3.2 million-year-old fossil of Lucy, the earliest known hominid, was discovered in 1974.
