Volcano eruption in Eritrea cuts short Hillary Clinton visit

Hillary Clinton, the US Secretary of State, was forced to cut short a tour of Africa after an Eritrean volcano that has lain dormant since modern records began erupted.

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NASA image shows a plume of smoke from an erupting volcano in southern Eritrea, seen at top right, is carried by winds blowing across northern Ethiopia Photo: AP

By Aislinn Laing, Johannesburg

8:07PM BST 13 Jun 2011

The eruption of the Nabro volcano close to the east African country's border with Ethiopia came at around midnight local time on Sunday and was preceded by a series of earthquakes, the most powerful with a magnitude of 5.7 on the Richter scale.

Plumes of ash were sent eight miles upwards into the air. The ash cloud has already seen the cancellation of flights to Eritrea and neighbouring Ethiopia, and is expected to cause severe disruption in Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Israel, to the north.

Mrs Clinton arrived in Ethiopia today to address a meeting of the 53-member of the African Union and meet with Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi.

But amid warnings that the Ethiopia's aviation authorities were considering closing Addis Ababa's main airport as the ash cloud headed to the capital, she cancelled a media briefing and flew home 24 hours early.

An official travelling with Mrs Clinton said they had been forced to make a snap decision or risk being stranded.

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"If the plane leaves without us, it's unclear when it or another plane could come get us because the ash cloud is moving towards Addis and it could cover the city for an indeterminate length of time," he said as the delegation departed. "Therefore (what we have decided) to do, which the air force is recommending, is to leave."

Mrs Clinton was not alone in having her plans disrupted by volcanoes this week. The continued eruption of Chile's Puyehue volcano, which has disrupted air travel from South America to Australia, forced a flight carrying Ban Ki-moon, the UN Secretary General, to divert to the northern Argentine city of Cordoba.

Mr Ban was forced to travel the remaining 400 miles to the capital Buenos Aires for a meeting with President Cristina Kirchner by car.

The 5,331ft Nabro volcano is close to Eritrea's border with Ethiopia and north of Djibouti, and has not erupted in at least 150 years.

It is located within the Danakil Depression, a junction of three tectonic plates spanning Eritrea and Ethiopia, whose spreading ridges could some 10 million years from now form a new ocean and split Africa in two.