Britain sends team to Ethiopia, French tourists safe

ADDIS ABABA, Mar 3 (Reuters) Britain sent a six-strong team of senior Foreign Office officials to Ethiopia today to step up diplomatic efforts to free foreigners feared kidnapped in a remote area of the Horn of Africa country.

Two groups of tourists, including at least seven French nationals and five Britons, were believed to have been kidnapped in a remote, inhospitable area of Ethiopia where separatist rebels operate.

But the head of the tour company that organised the trip for the seven French tourists said today they were safe.

''Seven with whom we lost communication for a while have arrived at Artale Volcano site. They ... are expected in Addis Ababa tomorrow,'' Samson Hailu, the head of Origin Ethiopia Tour Agency told Reuters. ''We had communication difficulty and we did not know their whereabouts. I have just received a telephone message from the tour guide.'' A French diplomat said he could not confirm the report as Paris had not yet made contact with the tourists.

British officials said five of those missing were staff from the embassy in Addis Ababa or relatives of members of staff.

Officials said the team sent to Addis Ababa early today had arrived to help diplomats at the British embassy.

''Our team arrived in Ethiopia this morning to add to the staff in the embassy,'' a Foreign Office spokesman said.

A small delegation of embassy staff has already flown to the city of Mekele in the north of the country, which has the closest airport to the area where the Westerners went missing, expatriate sources said.

Foreign Office officials in London declined to say whether hostage negotiators were among the team sent to Ethiopia.

HOSTILE TERRAIN Tour companies said the groups disappeared while visiting the northeast Afar region, considered one of the world's most hostile terrains. The missing Ethiopians were people from the Afar region and were working as drivers and translators.

Afar, one of Ethiopia's poorest regions, was also the site of a low-level rebellion against the government in the 1990s by separatists calling for an Afar state on territory straddling Ethiopia, Eritrea and Djibouti.

The status and number of French tourists feared kidnapped has been surrounded by confusion after initial reports said 10 had gone missing. Later reports said the tourists had been found but Origins Ethiopia insisted that seven were still missing.

Samson said there was another group of 10 members of French film crew who entered Ethiopia from Djibouti and were safe.

''The French film crew who entered Ethiopia from neighbouring Djibouti last week, have suspended operation to film the active volcano at Artale ... and are on their way to Addis Ababa.'' There was no immediate confirmation from the French embassy in Addis Ababa.

Ethiopian government sources said efforts had been intensified to find the tourists and 13 Ethiopians who police say were kidnapped on Thursday night at a camp by armed people.

''There is an intensive search going on for the Europeans and their Ethiopian crew by our security forces in the regions near where they were kidnapped,'' the source said.

REUTERS SY MIR KP2028