Ethiopian hostages

[anotheoldgit]

Is there more to this hostage situation in Ethiopia than we are being told?

First we are told that they are tourists, then relatives of the Embassy staff out there, or even Embassy staff themselves. Whatever the truth Tony Blair was personally made aware of the situation, and Diplomats and British Special Forces have been sent out.

We are told that these British nationals were on a trip to geolgical sites in a convoy of armed vehicles.
Whoever these hostages are, since they belonged to the British Embassy should they have not had to gain permission from London before embarking on such a venture.

Many years ago I even had to get clearence from my employers before embarking on a family holiday to Yugoslavia. Why have they been so laxed in this instance?

[jno]

yes, I wondered if it was some sort of spy mission. (I've no idea if they got anyone's permission, but if they were already in the country I doubt they would have needed permission to see more of it.) But a guy who knows Ethiopia well told me it was unlikely - there's nothing in this region (even though it's a frontier) - just wasteland with some tourist sites, not even a proper road, and not a proper border either. There are bandits around, he said, on both sides of the border, and it was almost certainly some of them who did the kidnapping.

[Gromit]

The SAS are going in...

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml =/news/2007/03/05/wethiop305.xml

One of the hostages is believed to be Rosanna Moore, the wife of Michael Moore, head of the British Council in Ethiopia. Wonder if they would go to all this trouble if it was you or I who was missing?