Impunity Watch Reporter, Africa
ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia – A thirty-nine-year old British Geologist was killed on Monday while traveling through the Ogaden region of Ethiopia.
Jason Reid was a geologist working for Petronas, a state-run Malaysian energy firm looking for oil in the region.
Jason Reid was being escorted by two Ethiopian military guards through Ethiopia’s eastern Somali region when gunmen opened fire on the car they were traveling in. According to Ethiopian authorities, they returned fire and “a gun battle ensued.”
The car was “riddled with bullets.”
“Mr. Jason and his escorts were going to their camps after completing their day’s work. The bandits ambushed and attacked them, and the law enforcement officials made a hot pursuit and were able to apprehend three of the suspected attackers,” said government spokesman Shimelis Kemal.
The Ethiopian government and the Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF) rebels have accused each other of being responsible for the attack.
“We don’t want to speculate at the moment,” said Gavin Cook, spokesman for the British Embassy in Addis Ababa. “There are a number of groups that operate in the region, but no one has claimed responsibility. There’s nothing to suggest as yet whether one or any of them was responsible or whether it was a random attack. But we are working with the government to try and establish more details.”
ONLF has denied responsibility for the attack, saying that the attackers “were simply outlaws, people engaged in robbery and illicit activities.”
“The Ethiopian regime has for some time now sponsored undisciplined armed militias who routinely wreak havoc in Ogaden and are no doubt responsible for this callous act,” said an ONLF statement. “The Ethiopian regime has clearly lost control of the local armed militias it sponsors, and the ONLF strongly suspects that they have committed this act.”
The ONLF is categorized as a terrorist group in Ethiopia, while the ONLF accuses the Ethiopian government of rights abuses.
For more information, please see:
VOA – Ethiopia, Rebels Trade Charges Over British Geologist’s Killing – 11 April 2010
AFP – Separatists Accuses Ethiopian Militia of Killing British Oil Worker – 09 April 2010
Washington Post – British Geologist Shot Dead in Ethiopia – 09 April 2010
