ADDIS ABABA, 16 March 2007 - Ethiopia on Friday called for international pressure to be applied on Eritrea, which it accuses of holding eight Ethiopians still missing after the release of five European captives this week. A British embassy group of five people, abducted in the northeast Ethiopian desert on March 1, was released on Tuesday in Eritrea, but eight Ethiopian drivers and guides accompanying them are still missing.

"We have to keep up the pressure. The international community should also put the pressure on the Eritrean government to release the eight Ethiopian hostages," Ethiopian foreign ministry spokesman Soloman Abebe told AFP.

"The media should work as they were working before when the Europeans were kidnapped," Abebe said, the day after the much-publicised return to Britain of the five ex-captives -- three British men, one British-Italian woman and a French woman.

But Abebe added that there was no news on efforts to release the Ethiopian captives.

On Wednesday Ethiopia's government, led by Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, demanded "the unconditional release of the eight Ethiopian nationals, victims of terrorism."

In its statement the government repeated allegations of Eritrea's involvement in the abduction, already strongly denied by Asmara, which points the finger at Ethiopian rebels in the Afar region.

Britain's foreign office and the former captives have shown caution in blaming anybody for the abductions in remote territory close to the border over which Ethiopia and Eritrea fought a war in 1998-2000.

In a statement after their release, the group expressed concern for the eight Ethiopians among 13 who had been with them. Five of the Ethiopians were freed three days after the abduction.

More than 50 Ethiopians and Europeans held prayers in Addis Ababa on Thursday evening for the release of the remaining Ethiopian captives.

Source: AFP