Rebels of the Afar Revolutionary Democratic Unity Front (ARDUF) took the action after the government of Prime Minister Meles Zenawi stepped up aerial bombardments of ARDUF positions, the source said.

ARDUF, which has been fighting for over a decade for the restoration of the Eritrea-annexed Afar Red Sea region to Ethiopia, said the tense situation that has gripped the region for quite some time had forced the government to transfer the capital of Afar from Assaita to Samara. "Traffic between Mille, 60 km east of Dessie, and Assaita has fallen under military escort."

Though Afar rebels have frequently clashed with government forces, the bloody conflict has largely remained beyond the radar of international media, an advantage for the government that has been carrying out brutal acts of military action without provoking any condemnation from the international community.

ARDUF, which sees Meles Zenawi as a masked Eritrean agent credited with turning Ethiopia into a landlocked state, has vowed to bolster its combat units until Ethiopia's Red Sea region of Afar is completely liberated from the Eritrean hands of Meles and Isaias Afewerki of Eritrea.

The United Ethiopian Democratic Forces, an opposition coalition to which ARDUF is a member, has vowed to do the country justice by nullifying all agreements Meles signed on behalf of Ethiopia with Eritrea.