February 8, 2000
One Killed in Attack in Ethiopia
Filed at 1:49 p.m. EST
By The Associated Press
GENEVA (AP) -- Ten heavily armed men attacked a Doctors Without Borders
vehicle in eastern Ethiopia, killing the Ethiopian driver and seriously
injuring a foreign aid volunteer, the humanitarian aid group said Tuesday.
A third person in the vehicle received a superficial wound in the attack
Monday afternoon between Jijiga and Degah Bur in Ethiopia's Ogaden region,
according to a statement. The area is on the Somali border.
The group, which last year won the Nobel Peace Prize, did not give the
identities or nationalities of those involved.
``A group of 10 heavily armed people burst onto the road and immediately
opened fire, aiming at the MSF team,'' said the statement from the
organization, also known by its French name, Medecins Sans Frontieres.
The group said it was suspending programs in the Degah Bur area following
the incident -- the third in the past year involving aid teams -- and moving
staff to the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa.
The injured foreign worker, who was shot twice, was transferred to Nairobi
and was in stable condition. The driver died at the scene, Doctors Without
Borders said.
The group has 10 foreign workers and 110 local employees in Ethiopia.