Ethiopian cops hunt for leader
2004-01-12 14:00
Addis Ababa - Ethiopian police on Monday continued their search for the chief executive of a region in western Ethiopia, who went missing on Friday, the Ethiopian news agency reported.
Okello Aquay is the regional chief executive of Gambella, where inter-ethnic violence claimed at least 57 lives late last month.
More than 40 houses were gutted in the clashes between the Aunak and Nuer ethnic groups. Total damage was estimated at 3.5 million birr (around $400 000, or R2,6m).
Aquay is an ethnic Anuak.
Police found Aquay's car abandoned on Friday but found no trace of the driver or his two personal bodyguards.
Police commissioner Kong Lul said the disappearance came "as a normal situation was being restored to the Gambella region, after the central and regional governments had pacified the region as a whole, following the recent ethnic violence and the ensuing tensions".
The Ethiopian government has blamed neighbouring Eritrea for stirring tensions in the region through dissident elements.
- SAPA