Ethiopia / Kidnapping / Exclusive story / The Hostages Drama in the Danakil Depression

(Les nouvelles d'Addis, 22 mars 2007, 18h00 Paris)

The abduction of European travellers and their Ethiopian aides which happened March 1st in the Ethiopian Afar Region has raised number of questions. Robert Wiren, journalist working for “Les nouvelles d’Addis” has received the following account from an Ethiopian Afar who has been able to collect detailed informations about the circumstances of this event and the people involved (hostages and perpetrators).

We have deleted some names quoted in the text since the related persons could come under pressure as the Ethiopian hostages are still detained and investigations are going on. For the same reasons the author wants to remain anonymous.

As soon as March 2nd, the site of “Les nouvelles d’Addis”, thanks to exclusive and reliable sources, was the first media to mention the possible implication of the Afar rebel group Ugugumo.

As the Ethiopian Prime Minister has said, it is quite possible that the Europeans were not the initial target of the rebels but the British diplomats were unfortunately at the wrong place and at the wrong time.

First Thursday March 2007 was too tiresome for European tourists who spent a number of days traveling to the Danakil Depression starts the tour from the southern tip of the Afarland in the African Horn across the Awash Valley to the great salt lake of Afdera via the Afar regional state capital, Samara. The group drives further in the deserts of the Danakil Depression to look at exceptional live images of the world’s most remote active volcanoes in Erta Ale. After a stopover in Hamedi'ela the group moved to see one of the lowest and hottest places on earth, the Dalol depression being 116 m below sea level and back to Hamedi'ela to spend the last night in the Afar deserts before concluding their tour.

Unfortunately, their last night in the desert was interrupted around 2: oo am by 32-armed men who surrounded the small huts in Hamedi'ela and ordered people out of their homes. They gathered dozens of people including five European tourists and their Ethiopian aides in specific area. Some were crying while others remain dumpfounded. Some wearing underwear only while most did not wear their shoes.

The armed men spoke in Afar’af, Tigrigna and Amharic languages interchangeably as majority of the locals do. Infact the locals knew who they are however, the Europeans and their Ethiopian aides from Addis assumed them to be bandits. Despite mentioning nothing about themselves, they left us scrutinize their actions to help us to speculate whether they are bandits in the desert or else a rebellions with political motives. For instance, they allowed the hostages to wear their clothes and shoes. [Whether by their own initiation or accepting the plea of the hostages], they never touch properties of the local people as well as European tourists. They just took the salt tax money collected by the Wereda finance officers, in which the Afar opposing group, Ugugumo that operated in the area over the last two decades and half is accusing the neighboring Tigreans for aggressively exploiting Afars’ salt resource and similarly accusing the Afar regional as well as local government officials for the embezzlement of the tax money collected from the salt caravan traders. Eyewitness in the area confirmed that Ugugumo fighters would like to move the three vehicles in the area down to the salt plain (Tata Gado) to make sure that nobody could use the vehicles to follow them. Unfortunately the driver of the finance office vehicle Omar Mohammed slept in a distanced hut together with the Wereda cabinet members, Mohammed Ali and Mohammed Ibrahim who are incumbent Berahle Wereda finance and information bureau heads respectively. Therefore the mission commander ordered to blast the finance office vehicle that resulted broke out of fire, which damaged three nearby huts. Then as the commander gave order to his fellows to bring cloths and shoes for the European tour groups, one among the two European female abductees closed the door of the British embassy code diplomatic car plate number CD. 03-005 by remote control key that instantly make the car hazard lights to blink and the parking lights to flash. This unexpected scenario pushed Ugugumo fighters to assume that somebody inside the car was trying to start the engine so instantly they opened fire on the car. Soon after, they managed to take the two vehicles down to Tata Gado. As the desert is too hot and unimaginable to cross it by foot ,they select camels in a good conditions and picked 12 out of about 2000 camels of the Arho caravan traders inorder to use it to transport the abductees.

The small town of Hamedi'ela located 977 km north–east of Addis is becoming a home for about 7000 people who engaged with the Arho salt caravan trade as well as small private businesses to provide services for tourists. The sole local government body that frequently visits Hamedi'ela is the Berahle wereda finance officers. Indeed, many local informants believe that Ugugumo fighters had got enough information about the arrival of finance officers there in Hamedi’ela, which might motivate them to plan the mission in the area.

It is well known by the government of Ethiopia at any level as well as the local Afars that the kidnapping is taken place by the remnants of Ugugumo fighters led by Arab Abdilla Mussa. It’s already confirmed from the eyewitness in Hamedi'ela that this mission was led by Ahmed...., an ex-ANLF military commander. It took them less than an hour to accomplish this mission. From 2:00am to 3:00am. The release of nine hostages comprises of six Afars and three Tigreans after they reach in As’ale can clearly be evidence for the political motive of the abductors rather than being simple bandits or else separatist movements that have incitement to ethnic hatred. Among the released, Hussien...., who defected from Eritrean government some years ago, other self-employed Afars in the area as a tourist guides and an Afar policeman from Afdera who portrayed himself as a local civilian was released together with three Tigreans, a school teacher in Hamedi'ela, a young female wereda finance civil servant and a young man from Berhale who frequently travels to Hamedi'ela by accompanying tourists.

As the information gathered from the area, locals correlated this action of Ugugumo as revenging the blood of two Ugugumo fighters who were shot and killed by the TPLF-led defense force in Berahle six months before. As it is well known by the Afars in the area, the regional government (of course by the order of the center) started negotiations with the Ugugumo remnants who established tactical alliance with Eritrean government and other Ethiopian opposition political organizations. Accordingly, the ex-ANLF fighter and head of Department of Crime Prevention Unit in the regional Police Commission, the late Commissioner Sadik Ahmed met Arab Abdilla in three different occasions in Teru Wereda. Amid these serious of discussions, the defense force camping in Berahle that got information from the Wereda administrations about the presence of four young Ugugumo fighters in their parents home in Dera Tekna ,30 km from Berhale moved to the area and shot and killed Osman Idris and Ali….. and injured Abdu Idris (brother of Osman Idris) and Mussa Bera’ies Ibrahim. Many informants believe that this action by the defense force might drive Ugugumo leadership to halt any negotiation with the Ethiopian government at any level and pursue their armed struggle in collaborating with anti-TPLF forces in the region.

Therefore, it is a victory for Ugugumo to be able to abduct three local government finance officers including their ex-fighter Mohamoda Ibrahim Abdulkadier and others men together with the unexpected European guests comprised of First Secretary and Administration Support in the British embassy in Addis, Peter Rudge and Jonathan Ireland respectively together with Malcolm Smart and Laure Beaufils from DFID as well as Rosanna Moore, wife of Head of British Council, which as they may think would bring an international recognition. Indeed, as they guess, the very remote desert region of the Afarland and the small hamlets in northeast of Ethiopia has received a great global attention and worldwide media coverage. The British ministry of foreign affairs officially announced their suspect toward the Afar rebel group behind the kidnapping.

Infact, Ugugumo who have a tactical relationship with Eritrean Government in similar fashion with the Eritrean opposition alliance that based in Ethiopia, might traverse the abductees to their camp across the Eritrean border. Earlier Eritreans were officially promised to send Afar elders to negotiate with the Ugugumo/ARDUF leaderships while the Ethiopian government points finger at 'terrorist' Eritrea without mentioning a word about the Afar oppositions. The Ethiopian government officially proclaimed that elders are already sent to the border area again nothing mentioned with whom these elders are going to talk. However, the government of Eritrean says ‘game is over’ and scored a point at least for its role played in the release of five European abductees.

It would be a huge failure for Ethiopians if they were expecting another victory against the northern ‘terrorist’ by being accompanied with the UK Special Forces as the US did in the mission to the east. It is also difficult to imagine Ethiopians send Europeans to plead with Eritrean government to play a similar role (for negotiating Ethiopian government with Ugugumo) for the release of the remaining Ethiopian abductees.

Potential alternatives seems either to recognize Ugugumo and deal with its leaderships by sending elders who really can play the role instead of the already sent elders Ali Nur Humeda and Mussa Ahmed Ali who still do not back from their initial trip to the border areas even after the kidnapped Europeans are released and joined their families in Addis and arrive safe to London. The other unimaginable alternative but may be selected as the best choice by highly stubborn Tigrean-led government of Ethiopia that already accused Eritrea for all bombings in Ethiopia and for the mess in Somalia is to go to war!. – RA