Two Red Cross workers kidnapped in Eastern Ethiopia

By Les Neuhaus

Addis Ababa, Sept 20 (AP) – Two international Red Cross workers were kidnapped at gunpoint in a remote part of eastern Ethiopia, forcing the agency to halt operations in the region for the first time in 11 years, officials said on Wednesday.

The International Committee of the Red Cross engineers, one Irish and one Ethiopian, were kidnapped Monday in the Ogaden region, largely inhabited by ethnic Somalis. The area has been troubled by a low-level conflict between the army and rebels known as the Ogaden National Liberation Front.

“We have suspended all activities in the Somali region for the moment after 11 years of operating in the region,” said ICRC spokesperson Patrick Megevand.

“One of the hostages is an Irish citizen and the other is an Ethiopian,” Megevand told The Associated Press.

“We are in contact with the perpetrators and are trying to mediate for their release.”

Government spokesperson Zemedkun Teckle said Ethiopian police and security are investigating and trying to track down the kidnappers.

“No one is sure at this time who the perpetrators are,” he told The Associated Press. “We do not know if it is O.N.L.F or not.”

The kidnapping happened near Gode, 1 100 kilometres east of Addis Ababa

Source: AP, Sept 20, 2006