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Eritrean Government Denies Abduction of Gold Miners in Ethiopia

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

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.”

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.

aseye.asena@gmail.com

Review overview
62 COMMENTS
  • Tef April 19, 2012

    Jona(Ghebresadik)
    Meles Zenawi is a master of deception, a Lie Factory. What he says today he contradicts it tomorrow. Meles has a record on lying. The best lie of meles is when he told , Badme awarded to Ethiopia and called to cellebrate in Addis studium. Eritreans hate who lies. We don’t have lie on our tradition.

    • jonas-1923@hotmail.com April 19, 2012

      Tef
      You are right, Eritreans hate liers,that is why they hate Isayas. I told you to stick to your parking lot job or any job you do that doesn’t require brain work and pay your 2%. This subject is too complex for you.

      • jonas-1923@hotmail.com April 19, 2012

        Every job you do is worth having weither it requiers brain or not, my comment only applies to this Teffhead called Tef.

        • Tef April 19, 2012

          Jonas(Ghebresadik)

          Where you from? Are you from Shire or Mekele? Have you ever been Eritrea for visit?

          • Tef April 19, 2012

            Jonas (Ghebresadik)
            I hate woyane, that is why you don’t like my comments because you are Woyane. you have to know that I don’t like beggar (Ethiopia, a country that receives the highest Western aid than any other country in sub-Saharan Africa.)

          • jonas-1923@hotmail.com April 19, 2012

            Tef
            Ain’t you guys not tired of labelling us Woyanes whenever we critisise Ass aya, it doesnt work anymore, so boring , I did not say I don’t like your comments, you are entitled to your views, I am not Isayas , I will not lock you in a container because of your views even if I had the power to do so.What surprises me is how indecent and mannerless are all Isayas supporters are on this site, just hurling insults, no points. You are all “Balegea ” just like him. You are just as classless like him.I dont like to insult people but in your case I do, by the way yes I am Eritrean if that makes you feel better you “Anchewa”.

          • Ghebre April 20, 2012

            Tef;

            From where do you come? May be Gojam?? I can see the identity crisis in you! You are pretending to be a very “Pure Eritrean”????

      • Tef April 19, 2012

        Jonas(Ghebresadik)

        not only 2%, I will dye for my country (ERITREA), like what other real ERitreans do. woyane askes(beggs) for help from White people but ERITREANS pay 2%, that is the difference between beggar woyane and ERITREA.

        • Tef April 19, 2012

          Jonas

          Don’t mix Tigre(Eritrean language) on your comment. I am Amharic speaker.

        • Halo April 20, 2012

          Donn’t lie. I am sure you are in Sudan or Israel to save your life from the dictator. People like you don’t die for freedom but flee from their country.

      • Tef April 19, 2012

        Jonas(Ghebresadik)
        Yo foget to mention on top of 2% we contrubiting grands of dollar for defence. Not only 2%, I will dye for my country (ERITREA), like what other real ERitreans do. woyane askes(beggs) for help from White people but ERITREANS pay 2%, that is the difference between beggar woyane and ERITREA.

        • jonas-1923@hotmail.com April 19, 2012

          Tef
          You don’t have much to show for the money you send to AssayaAss, I bet Ass aya is ready with his luggages to flee, I remember Mengistu was saying till the last man, he was right ,he was the last man not in prison. Ass will do the same. Why do you insult Woyane, I am the one insulting you, You think I give a shit what you say about Woyane.

          • Tef April 19, 2012

            Jonas (Ghebresadik)

            I am not that I call you Ghebresadik my ERITREAN girlfriend call you Ghebresadik. We both hate Woyane even so I am real ETHIOPIAN my girlfriend real ERITREAN. What about you real woyane.

          • jonas-1923@hotmail.com April 19, 2012

            Tef
            Owwww you are not Eritrean, ok let me translate for you what I called you last “A rat.” You are not worth my time, you snitch, in amharic I think they say “Akatari”, and you also take down and degrade the reputation and the respect this REAL ERITREAN website desrves. My last word for you will be again Akatari and welawai. Go fight woyane if you want , this is our site ,it is a different country you are talking about, it is none of your business what we say about our country Ms .Rat.

          • Eritrawi April 20, 2012

            Jonas, may I also add, peopl like Tef might be just like the ones Ass ayas (brilliant suffix this) employ to extend his time in power, you know what I mean! Teweljes. Once someone asked him why he only employs people (as guards and in security personnel in particular) with Tigray connection and his response was I employ people that will work for me. He basically was hinting that he never trusts the native. Poer to the people.
            Best wishes

          • jonas-1923@hotmail.com April 20, 2012

            Ertrawi
            You are soooo right, I was suspicious too, I think this guy Tef is some kind of a paid agent , there is another one like him called Hylom too. We Eritreans don’t jump to name calling right away even if we support Isayas. If you notice, these agents are quick to call us Woyanes and the target is not us but Eritreans who read our comments. It is all to confuse those who read our comments as if we are fake Eritreans, Ahmed had told me earlier. Amazing.

        • hama-sinai April 19, 2012

          …. But our names are very ‘modern’ like AMDETSION/AMDE-CHION, TESFA-CHION, ….
          … the suffix TSION is borrowed from original owners and changed to CHION with time. What a shame!
          But we never say gebretsadik. because it is ‘backward’. ‘not’ religious name!!!
          Hahaha….

    • weldu April 19, 2012

      Please be mature. I hate agame ayte issayas and his puppets parking thieves and store keepers…..

      • Ahmed saleh April 20, 2012

        Yonas
        I told you before this guy “tef” does look suspicious ignore him.
        Now we know why is disconnected from our suffering. His
        support behind DIA has secret agenda to decieve readers.

        • jonas-1923@hotmail.com April 20, 2012

          Ahmed
          Now I got it Ahmed, Tef is just here to hurl insults and discredit this site , he may even be in Eritrea or some embassy abroad working for the regime , the supporters have the same acid tounges like the rigime and they probably work for the rigime to outdraw our voices .

          • ahmed saleh April 20, 2012

            Yonus
            For your information do you know the so called
            Ethiopian opposition ” GENBOT 7 ” who are under protection wing of DIA inside Eritrea are chauvenist
            Amhara group who had never recognize Eritrean sovereignty. Smell the aroma of dirty politics buddy

  • DemMelash April 19, 2012

    Let’s keep on kicking Isaias and his dogs where it hurts the most. They have made a habit to start a mess until they get their pay. Eventually we will wipe them up and clean all the mess they tried to build.

  • weldu April 19, 2012

    You do not have anything to do? emmmm how about do some volunteer work…fesewti

  • FACT-is-FACT April 20, 2012

    SINGAPO,
    way to go brother… you can write … beautiful humor that makes people crack.. you see how Mr. T. couldn’t get your message.. you simply had to crack it for him in half… what an imbecile is the dude.. ናይ ብሓቂ ከርሞ ጥጃ ! .. if he can differentiate ሰ from ሠ.. how is that he pretends that he never heard the Amharic word ‘beqolo” ? … .

    ተካል – ዕላሽ ! ዒባ ደንበ’ዉን ኮ ሓሰኻ ይወልድ’ዩ በለት – .. Mr. T. መሰታ ዳሕረዎት – ከርሞ ጥጃ ኮይኑ ምስተረፈ! የዒንታ ዘይኮናስ ልባ ንብዓት ዛረወ’ ሞ ! … በተን ዝሰማዓተን Italian – ማ’ዋርዳ’ሞ በለት ! … ሓቃ ኻአ!

    • Ahmed saleh April 20, 2012

      Fact-is-Fact
      You noticed the childish behavior of the guy. He is so stupid
      not to hesitate attacking people. Responding to SINGAPORE
      referred me as Mullah but I do not expect nothing good will
      come out from him. Sometimes it is worthy to ignore such
      individuals to stay with optimistic attitude. Give more attention
      to the changes around you of your own liking. Keep minimizing
      the stress by implementing changes in our approach that will
      allow us to maximize our high standards. Change is imminent
      but it is important also not to hold on to anything outdated values.

  • abreham April 20, 2012

    About 100 million people of Ethiopia and Eritrea are suffering due to the selfish and brutal leadership of their leaders. These people will never get peace unless both leaders are eradicated from their position and sent to the court for their crime against their people and the people of the respective land.

  • FACT-is-FACT April 20, 2012

    brother Ahmed,
    one of the key elements that the Eritrean rulers use it: bigotry. and finding bigots like Mr. T. in any soceity isn’t that hard. ዓባየይ ከም በዓል Mr. T. (Tsehaye) ምስረኣየት ተካል ! ወይ ኣይኩርትፍ ንኸፍሪ ወይ ኣይፀሪ ንክሓርስ ዝበለቶ ነቲ ዝራብዕ ምኳን ዝኣበየ ንዓመታውን ምራኽ ! .. and that is what u c in Mr. T.

    when you have a system that is evil, crude and hell-bent in destroying anything that is humane, anything that is normal, anything that has moral dimension, then surprise not brother ! This nightmare will be over too. And you and I and many like us who truly believe in humanity will continue to fight bigotry after the dust settles with PFDJ and its imbecile stooges such as Mr. T.

    The bigots are even in the opposition that claims they are fighting a system that is full of bigots what an irony when they themselves are bigots. so worry not brother.

    heaven Mercy Eritrea and humanity!

    • Mr. T April 21, 2012

      F-is-F,

      ata mush-mush, neza ertra aikonendo ktserhalas b’anka iwn temitka zeitfeltsi kndzi te’egergrena. Nevertheless, I am glad to see you showing some progress in how and where to use Tigrigna alphabets as opposed to the letters of your Ethiopian background. Now there is one more letter that you need to avoid using when you are talking to the bona fide Eritreans. We don’t use the letter “ፀ”. Please ask the master of Tigrigna (Singapo-E) for help.

  • FACT-is-FACT April 20, 2012

    Abreham,
    It is not just the people that must go, it is the SYSTEM that they have put in place that must go with them. For instance, Dergue took power from the Emperor. But the inquiring mind need to ask: Had Ethiopians life been better off under Dergue? well let us wait for that to be answered.

    Dergue took ownership of a System (the Emperor’s system) that had already been in place that established Institutions in the Heart of Addis Abeba. And these Institutions:
    a) instituionally destituted Ethiopians in both the mind & stomach
    b) institutionally exposed the beautiful people of Ethiopia, especially in Addis, to diseases: leporsy, polio, and you name it.
    c) institutionally introduced prostitution, beggarism as the despair the system created sent Ethiopians to the streets to survive by anymeans. You think Eritreans are different? No. they are humans that are now facing the same -Institutional- evil system.

    so it is the institutions that our respective soceity must spot on and pay attention to.
    otherwise the next evil will come and elevate that evil system in a way that benefits it.

  • awat@yahoo.com April 20, 2012

    Ethiopians who were born in Eritrea do act, talk and walk like Eritreans but they hate Eritreans as much as their relative in Ethiopia. They are the one who are hurt because they are not acceptable by their relative in Ethiopia. They do not want peace in Eritrea because they do know what will happen to them if there is peace and democracy in Eritrea. Their comment in any Eritrean issues are negative and destructive . We Eritreans want solution for our problems and peace and democracy in Eritrea.

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