Five Britons missing and feared kidnapped in eastern Ethiopia are members of staff from the UK embassy in Addis Ababa or relatives of staff, the foreign secretary, Margaret Beckett, said tonight.
The five are thought to be part of a group of westerners who went missing while on a trip to look at geological sites 500 miles north of the capital in a remote desert region.
Mrs Beckett said the government was working with Ethiopian authorities who "are doing all they can to ensure that the situation is resolved peacefully".
"I can confirm that five of those are members of staff, or relatives of members of staff, at our embassy in Addis Ababa.
"We have already been working very closely with Ethiopian authorities through our ambassador in Addis Ababa. They have made it clear that they are doing all they can to ensure that the situation is resolved peacefully. We are also coordinating with other governments."
Rossanna Moore, the wife of Michael Moore, the director of the British Council in Ethiopia, is understood to be among those missing.
The group is thought to have been in a convoy of four vehicles travelling to see the salt mines in Dalol, in the Afar region of the country, 500 miles north of Addis Ababa.
The area is known for its inhospitable terrain. A small rebel group is said to operate in the area, and all visitors are required to travel with armed guards.
It is thought the missing tourists were travelling with two armed police and a guide. Seven French nationals are also believed to have gone missing during a trip to the remote region.
The Foreign Office said earlier the missing Britons had links to the Foreign Office, the British Council and the Department for International Development.
Tony Blair is being kept aware of developments, his official spokesman said, while the French foreign ministry said the tourists had been kidnapped, but declined to say how many or indicate their nationalities.
Bereket Simon, a special adviser to the Ethiopian prime minister, Meles Zenawi, said he was checking the situation but did not yet have any details to report.
Bandits and a small Afar rebel group operate in the area they were visiting. The Ethiopian government requires all convoys to have a minimum of two cars and to always travel with armed guards.
Zemedkun Tekle, an Ethiopian government spokesman, said officials were struggling to confirm the reports because of the Afar region's remoteness. French embassy officials were on their way to the area.
The first reports of the kidnapping came from a local businessman and a tour operator who said the tourists had been with two armed police and an Afar guide.
He added that the group were clients of Origins Ethiopia, a new tour agency specialising in trips to Afar, and said officials from the company had told him they had been unable to contact them.
According to the operator, the group left Mekele on Sunday for a two-day drive to Hamedali, a remote village that is the last staging post before the salt mines.
They then went on a two-hour drive to Dalol to visit the mines and were supposed to be returning to Hamedali when they went missing, he said. There was no immediate comment from Origins Ethiopia.
The Afar region - where one of the oldest humanoid fossils was discovered in 1974 - has an average year-round temperature of 34C, but that figure often soars much higher.
In 1995, rebels from the Afar Revolutionary Democratic Unity Front admitted kidnapping Italian tourists in the area. The group has fought against Ethiopia and Eritrea for many years.