Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi urged the kidnappers of five Europeans and eight locals on Monday to give them up, saying the hostages were not the original target of an attack in the remote north.
”I do not believe these people were targeted. They were in the wrong place at the wrong time. This is a group of people who have not done anything to hurt anybody,” Meles said in his first public comments on the kidnap that took place 11 days ago.
”I think this may have been a step too far for the individuals concerned,” he said, referring to the kidnappers.
”They need to find a way to redress their steps in a way that does not affect their interests.”
Meles’s comments backed up accounts from witnesses in the desolate salt-trading village of Hamad-Ile, in the north-east Afar region, that the armed gang first attacked local tax collectors before stumbling across the foreigners.
The five Europeans, accompanied by local guides, translators and drivers, were apparently on a sight-seeing tour when they were abducted during the night.
All five expatriates — three British men, one Italian-British woman and a French woman — are linked to the British Embassy in Ethiopia.
”We have a fairly good idea where they are,” Meles said, without giving any more details.
Regional officials and Afar locals have said the hostages were marched across the border to Eritrea, but Asmara has denied that. — Reuters