European Tourists Kidnapped in Ethiopia

Around 14 western tourists, reportedly including up to five Britons, have been kidnapped in a remote area of Ethiopia, it was confirmed today.

The French foreign ministry said the tourists were kidnapped in the desert of the northern Afar region - one of the world's hottest and most inhospitable terrains - yesterday.

French officials would not comment on how many people had been kidnapped or indicate their nationalities. However, French news reports said the country's embassy in Addis Ababa had indicated that 11 French people and three Britons had been abducted.

Other reports said five Britons were missing and presumed to have been kidnapped.

"We understand that a number of British nationals are reported missing in Ethiopia. Consular staff are looking into it," a Foreign Office spokesman in London said.

Bereket Simon, a special adviser to the Ethiopian prime minister, Meles Zenawi, said he was checking the situation but did not yet have any firm details to report.

The tourists were said to have been travelling in a convoy of four vehicles to salt mines in Dalol, 500 miles north-east of Addis Ababa, when they were taken hostage.

Bandits and a small Afar rebel group operate in the area that was being visited by the tourists. The Ethiopian government requires all convoys to have a minimum of two cars and always travel with armed guards.

A tour operator from the region, who spoke anonymously to the Associated Press, said the tourists had been with two armed police and an Afar guide.

He added that the group were clients of Origins Ethiopia, a new tour agency specialising in trips to Afar. The operator said officials from the company had told him they had told him that they had been unable to contact the tourists.

According to the operator, the group left Mekele for a two-day drive to Hamedali, a remote village that is the last staging post before the salt lakes, on Sunday.

They then went on a two-hour drive to Dalol to visit the salt mines and were supposed to be returning to Hamedali when they went missing, he said.

There was no immediate comment from Origins Ethiopia.

The Afar region - where the Ethiopian fossil of Lucy was discovered in 1974 - has an average year-round temperature of 34C, but that figure often soars much higher.