Free Republic

In 2003 and 2004, ESAG, in collaboration with Greek authorities, conducted a geophysical survey around Paleoekklisies Hill to identify traces of buried ancient buildings. In 2006, they received a permit to dig in the area of their survey that seemed to have the greatest potential. The team uncovered ancient building material, houses, and graves; however, they were from the wrong time period. There was a long history of settlement on Paleoekklisies Hill dating back to the third millennium b.c. In fact, in the second millennium b.c., the site appears to have been called Amarynthos. A clay tablet found in the...

ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) - Ethiopian troops searched on Wednesday for seven Chinese and Ethiopian workers kidnapped in a rebel attack on an oilfield that killed 74 people in a remote and barren southeastern region. The Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF), ethnic Somalis fighting for independence since 1984, claimed responsibility for the pre-dawn raid on the Chinese-run field that was one of the worst attacks to date on Beijing's growing interests in Africa. The rebels have repeatedly warned energy companies they will not allow oil and gas exploration in the area as long as the Ogaden people are "denied their rights...