http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2016/04/ethiopia-army-enters-sudan-hunting-kidnapped-children-160421055058522.html
Ethiopia army enters S Sudan to find kidnapped children
Troops cross into South Sudan in search of more than 100 children believed abducted in violent raid last week.
21 Apr 2016
Ethiopian troops have crossed into South Sudan in search of more than 100 children who were kidnapped and spirited across the border in a surprise attack that also killed 208 people.
The attackers, who were armed with machineguns, killed anyone who tried to stop them from taking the children, including women, according to witnesses. They also took more than 2,000 livestock.
"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."
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 the western Gambela region.
The Murle, a tribe from South Sudan based in the eastern Jonglei region close to the Ethiopian border, often stage raids to steal cattle and abduct children but very rarely on such a large or deadly scale.
A wave of anger
The Addis Ababa government had already said that its army was hunting the attackers, but had not revealed that its troops crossed the border.
According to Ethiopia's state-run Fana radio, the army surrounded the area where the children were being held, but that has not yet been confirmed by the government.
The raid has unleashed a wave of anger in Ethiopia and boosted fears that a civil war raging in South Sudan could spill over the border.
Ethiopia hosts more than 200,000 South Sudanese refugees who fled after war broke out in their country in December 2013.
It is also home to Ethiopian and South Sudanese rebels who periodically attack government installations and soldiers.
Ethiopia has been heavily involved in the South Sudan peace process, partly because of the risk that the conflict could destabilise Gambela, which is only 50km from the border.
After winning independence from Sudan in 2011, South Sudan descended into war two years later, setting off a cycle of retaliatory killings that have split the country along ethnic lines.
Tens of thousands of people have been killed, more than two million forced to flee their homes, and millions made hungry as politicians failed to honour a series of peace agreements.
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Ethiopia troops cross into S Sudan for abducted children
AFP | Addis Ababa
April 21, 2016
http://www.business-standard.com/article/pti-stories/ethiopia-troops-cross-into-s-sudan-for-abducted-children-116042100062_1.html
Received on Thu Apr 21 2016 - 05:58:07 EDT