Refugees protest "kidnapping" of 25 Oromos in Kenya

Dec 26, 2005 (NAIROBI) - Close to 1,000 Ethiopian refugees are camped atthe offices of UN High Commission for Refugees in Westlands - Nairobi -protesting against the kidnapping of 25 of their members.

The refugees, all of Oromo origin, claim that the Ethiopian governmenthas sent spies among their midst and is scheming to repatriate them backto Ethiopia.But Ethiopian Ambassador Murad Musa blames the kidnapping on the OromoLiberation Front militant group, some of whom are said to be operatingin this country.The refugees do not want to be associated with the group that opposesthe Ethiopian government.

An Oromo elder, Geleta Aboye, told the enyan KTN TV "we have acommunity, there is the Oromo community in this country, in Nairobi andthe government of Ethiopia has planted its spies from Oromo community."Ambassador Musa said "I have sent my diplomat to verify this thing onwhat's going on there. And this country as you know is a sovereigncountry, it has its own structures, security structures. It knows what'sgoing on here."An embassy's function is not kidnapping, embassy's function is having adirect relationship with its community, Musa said.