Ethiopia Troops In South Sudan To Find Abducted children

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Ethiopian troops have crossed into South Sudan in search of more than 100 children who were kidnapped across the border in a surprise attack that also killed 208 people.  The attackers, who were armed with machine guns, killed anyone who tried to stop them from taking the children, including women, according to witnesses. They also took more than 2,000 livestock.

Estimates of the number of children snatched ranged from 102 to 125.  “The army has been conducting reconnaissance missions in South Sudan and they have a clear idea of where the children are,” Getachew Reda, the information minister, told the AFP news agency.  “We have sought approval of the government of South Sudan to conduct these operations.”

Al Jazeera’s Catherine Soi, reporting from Gambela in western Ethiopia, where the incident took place, reported that witnesses said the men were well organised and dressed in military fatigues.   “There is a lot of military action here now,” Soi said. “The whole area near the border with South Sudan is a security zone now. We can’t access it at all.”

One survivor, spoken to by Al Jazeera at a local hospital, said seven members of his family had been killed. One female patient, who had been shot four times, said her three-year-old son was shot in the dead.  Two of her children, she said, were among the group snatched across the border.  Ethiopia began two days of mourning on Wednesday in memory of those who died in the attack, which happened late last week.

Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn said in an address to the nation that Ethiopia was co-operating with the South Sudanese government to take joint measures against the attackers.  On Wednesday, the European Union said it was in touch with South Sudanese authorities to offer help to ensure the immediate return of the children to their families. Ethiopian officials have blamed Murle tribesmen from South Sudan for a series of deadly attacks on Ethiopian villages in Gambela.