The government has demanded the release of a Kenyan policeman abducted by militiamen from Ethiopia during last Thursday's Moyale raid

Mr Dulacha Halakhe is allegedly being held at a military camp in Ethiopia. He was abducted by raiders who killed 10 Kenyans, among them eight policemen, at Kiltipe, Uran Division.

Moyale District Commissioner, Mr Clement Kiteme asked the Ethiopian government to release the administration policeman unconditionally and six rifles snatched from the dead officers.

Mr Kiteme accussed the Ethiopian government of "heavily influencing" the raids in the district. About 160 people have been killed in the past year in attacks by militiamen said to be from the neighbouring country.

The DC was speaking to a Nation team that toured the district yesterday as angry residents asked for his transfer and the defection of all Kanu councillors and area MP Guracha Galagalo.

Said Mr Kiteme: " We want Dulacha with the firearms they took from our men back immediately. If this people only cross the border to kill, abduct and interrogate Kenyans on activities of Oromo Liberation Front without stealing any animals then we highly believe the Ethipian government must have a hand in it."

The DC, who confined himself to the vicinity of his office for the second day running for fear of being stoned by protesting residents, said the Ethiopian officials had apologised for the killings but said they were not aware of any abduction.

Residents of Moyale demanded the closure of the border and the closing down of Ethiopia's embassy in Nairobi. They burnt down a Kanu office, which doubles as the chief's office. But no one was injured.

A human rights activist Mohammed Noor Korme who led hundreds of protesters in barricading roads to the town said the government inaction had made the militiamen to "roam at will in the district killing, abducting and raping women".

The DC said, however, that the government had put all security apparatus on alert although their Ethiopian counterparts were "uncooperative".