Just after I posted our program, last Sunday, the internet media brought the news of five foreign tourists that had been killed in Ethiopia. They had been part of a group of eight, or 22, or 27 – the news is not very clear here – that had been traveling in the Danakil Depression (also called Afar Desert). Apparently, according to the Ethiopian government-controlled television, they were attacked by a group of Eritrean rebels at dawn, last Tuesday morning, near the Erta Ale volcano. Five were shot dead, two got injured and one got away unhurt. Later, it transpired that two more tourists and two of their Ethiopian guides had been kidnapped, and were being held across the Eritrean border.
Further reports talked about 3 tourists hurt, and two who escaped – which still leaves 10-15 foreigners unaccounted for. And another mentions a group of 11 returning by plane to Addis Abeba. The Eritrean authorities immediately denied their involvement, blaming Ethiopian bandits instead: in reality, I wonder whether there is a lot of difference on the ground, between bandits and rebels, often they are one and the same. All over the world criminals hide behind a political motive to justify their activities, and political activists use crime to finance their objectives. The Danakil area has been a lawless expanse of inhospitable land for as long as people can remember. There are also no less than five independence movements known to operate in this area, bordering Djibouti, Ertirea and Ethiopia. The Danakil – the ethnic group also called the Afar – live in all three countries, and no doubt cross with impunity, despite border tension, especially between long-time rivals Eritrea and Ethiopia.
a few maps to illustrate where the Erte Ale volcano is, the likely place of the incident. Thanks to the Windsor Star and the BBC sites
Just after I posted our program, last Sunday, the internet media brought the news of five foreign tourists that had been killed in Ethiopia. They had been part of a group of eight, or 22, or 27 – the news is not very clear here – that had been traveling in the Danakil Depression (also called Afar Desert). Apparently, according to the Ethiopian government-controlled television, they were attacked by a group of Eritrean rebels at dawn, last Tuesday morning, near the Erta Ale volcano. Five were shot dead, two got injured and one got away unhurt. Later, it transpired that two more tourists and two of their Ethiopian guides had been kidnapped, and were being held across the Eritrean border.
Further reports talked about 3 tourists hurt, and two who escaped – which still leaves 10-15 foreigners unaccounted for. And another mentions a group of 11 returning by plane to Addis Abeba. The Eritrean authorities immediately denied their involvement, blaming Ethiopian bandits instead: in reality, I wonder whether there is a lot of difference on the ground, between bandits and rebels, often they are one and the same. All over the world criminals hide behind a political motive to justify their activities, and political activists use crime to finance their objectives. The Danakil area has been a lawless expanse of inhospitable land for as long as people can remember. There are also no less than five independence movements known to operate in this area, bordering Djibouti, Ertirea and Ethiopia. The Danakil – the ethnic group also called the Afar – live in all three countries, and no doubt cross with impunity, despite border tension, especially between long-time rivals Eritrea and Ethiopia.
next: we make some adjustments
