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Ethiopia says Eritrea behind Chinese oil field bloodbath
AFP
ADDIS ABABA
Petroleumworld.com 04 25 07Ethiopia on Wednesday accused arch-foe Eritrea of supporting rebels who attacked a Chinese-run oil field in a remote area of Ethiopia in which 65 Ethiopians and nine Chinese workers died.
The information ministry said Eritrea was behind the dawn raid on Tuesday by the Ogaden National Liberation Front -- fighting for the independence of ethnic Somalis in Ethiopia's eastern Ogaden region -- in which up to seven Chinese workers were also kidnapped.
"The perpetrator of the terrorist attack ... is the self-styled Ogaden National Liberation Front, a terrorist wing which is part of the front of destruction led by the Eritrean government," the information ministry said in a statement.
"Hand-in-glove with the Eritrean Government, which hates to see Ethiopia's development, the terrorist forces in the region have acted out this horrendous act of terror," the statement said.
Addis Ababa often accuses Eritrea of backing Ethiopian separatist groups alleged to have carried out a series of bombs attacks in Addis Ababa in recent years and of attacking civilian positions in southern and eastern Ethiopia.
The two nations, still at odds over an unresolved border dispute, fought a bloody 1998-2000 over the precise path of their frontier.
The ONLF, formed in 1984, says that the Ogaden people have been marginalised and brutalised by Ethiopia.
It claimed responsibility for Tuesday's attack in a statement on its website in which it said it had completely destroyed the oil facility.
The raid was the first on an Ethiopian oil field since the ONLF issued a threat to foreign companies operating in the eastern region one year ago.
AFP 25 0742 GMT 04 07
Copyright© 2007 AFP. All Rights Reserved.
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