Just a quick note to let everyone know that, although I was in the Afar region of Ethiopia, I was not among the French tourists thought kidnapped or the British diplomats and their Ethiopian entourage who actually were held by Eritrean forces near the Ethiopia-Eritrea border. Instead, I’m back in Addis Ababa after visiting the Bilen Lodge just north of Awash Saba in the very interesting Afar region. More soon…

[Update: It looks like it may have been regional forces opposed to the current Ethiopian government who performed the kidnappings, instead of Eritrean regulars. That’s good news in a way, since it means the war between the two countries probably won’t start again over this incident.]