Eritrea denies Ethiopian gold mine abductions By William Davison, Bloomberg

 By William Davison, Bloomberg | April 18, 2012

ADDIS ABABA (Apr 18) -- Eritrea’s government denied accusations by Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi that it was responsible for abducting more than 100 gold miners in northwestern Ethiopia.

The incident, which took place “recently,” was one of a series that prompted a counter-offensive by Ethiopian forces on March 15, when they attacked three military bases inside Eritrea used by rebels to attack Ethiopia, Meles told lawmakers yesterday in the capital, Addis Ababa. He didn’t provide a more specific timeframe on when the abductions took place.

“It has become the modus operandi of Ethiopia to blame everything on Eritrea,” Girma Asmerom, Eritrea’s ambassador to the African Union, said in an interview today. “They think by lying and lying the lies may be perceived to be true.”

Ethiopia and Eritrea fought a war from 1998 to 2000 that killed 70,000 people, according to the Brussels-based International Crisis Group. Last month’s attack in southeastern Eritrea followed the January killing of five European tourists by Eritrea-backed insurgents, according to Ethiopia. Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki’s government denied any involvement in the incident.

Cross-border abductions such as those carried out in Ethiopia’s northwestern Tigray region occur regularly, Ethiopian Communications Bereket Simon said in a phone interview today from Addis Ababa, without providing further details.

“The proportional measure was taken in account of all the misdeeds,” he said. A return to all-out war is unlikely, Meles said yesterday.

UN Sanctions

Eritrea has been under United Nations sanctions since 2009 for allegedly supporting rebels in the Horn of Africa region, including al-Qaeda-backed militants in Somalia. Ethiopia accuses Eritrea of backing groups including the rebel Ethiopian Unity and Freedom Force, which yesterday claimed responsibility for an attack on Metema town in Ethiopia’s Amhara region on April 11.

About 20 buildings, including the Khartoum Hotel, were burned down, the group said in an e-mailed response to questions yesterday. Many of the properties were owned by members of the Tigray People’s Liberation Front, which is a member of Ethiopia’s five-party ruling coalition and led by Meles, the EUFF said.

The rebel organization, which was established in June, also said it attacked a convoy in which the governor of Sudan’s Gadarif state was travelling on April 9.

While the claims are the “usual fabrications”, all such groups are supported or “directly manipulated” by Eritrea, according to Bereket.

Eritrea does not want to destabilize its neighbors by backing rebel groups, according to Girma.

“It has selfish interests in a stable, united and developed Ethiopia and Sudan,” he said. “They are big markets.”

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To contact the reporter on this story: William Davison in Addis Ababa via Nairobi at pmrichardson@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Paul Richardson in Nairobi at pmrichardson@bloomberg.net.

Meles accuses Eritrea of kidnappings

By Aaron Maasho, Reuters | April 18, 2012

* Meles says Addis Ababa has taken unnamed measures

* Claims come a month after Ethiopia raids inside Eritrea

* Asmara denies links

ADDIS ABABA, April 17 (Reuters) - Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi accused Eritrea on Tuesday of abducting dozens of Ethiopian miners from the country's northwest, in a potential escalation of tension between the arch-enemies.

Ethiopian troops crossed into the Red Sea state last month and attacked what they said were military bases used by rebels to stage raids, including a January attack that killed five Western tourists in Ethiopia's remote Afar region.

These attacks were the first on Eritrean soil that Ethiopia has admitted to since the end of a devastating 1998-2000 border war, sparking concern that their unresolved frontier spat could escalate into a full-scale war.

"They (Eritrean government) recently kidnapped more than 100 young miners who were mining gold in our country's northwest. And in the northeast, they killed some tourists and kidnapped others," Meles said, the latter referring to the January raid.

"We have taken proportional measures in both locations," he told lawmakers in response to a question on relations with Eritrea.

Meles did not specify when and exactly where the abductions in the country's northwest Tigray region took place, nor the measures his country had subsequently taken.

Eritrean officials were not immediately available for comment, but they often dismiss their rivals' allegations as a ploy to harm Eritrea's reputation.

Ethiopia routinely accuses Asmara of supporting Ethiopian separatist groups. It blamed an Afar rebel movement for the kidnapping of Westerners in its northern Afar region in 2007, and again for the attack in the same area earlier this year.

Gunmen killed two Germans, two Hungarians and an Austrian in a dawn attack on a group of tourists in the remote Afar region on January 17, and seized two Germans and two Ethiopians.

A rebel group in the Afar region said in February it had freed the two Germans, although there has been no official confirmation of the release.

After the border war, the Hague-based Eritrea-Ethiopia Boundary Commission ruled that the flashpoint town of Badme belonged to Eritrea but the village remains in the hands of its neighbour, which is calling for negotiations to implement the ruling.

Asmara blames the international community for the impasse, and President Isaias Afewerki last month accused the United States of plotting the Ethiopian raids.

Ethiopia is Washington's biggest ally in the Horn of Africa region and has deployed troops in lawless Somalia to fight al Qaeda-linked insurgents in Somalia.

"The military incursions were plotted by Washington with the aim of diverting attention from implementing the boundary commission's decision," Isaias said in an interview with state television. (Editing by Yara Bayoumy)