ADDIS ABABA, April 21 (Reuters) - Ethiopia pledged on Saturday not to forget eight nationals kidnapped since early March in a case it blames on Horn of Africa neighbour Eritrea.

"The Ethiopian government will not stop its efforts until its abducted citizens are released," Foreign Minister Seyoum Mesfin said in a statement.

Addis Ababa has accused foreign media of ignoring the case of the eight, who were with five Europeans seized at gunpoint in the remote Afar region of north Ethiopia at the start of March.

The Europeans were freed in Eritrea after 12 days, but nothing has been heard of their Ethiopian guides.

Addis Ababa says Asmara is behind the continued abduction of the eight, but Eritrea denies that as malicious propaganda. Analysts believe a rebel group from the Afar region, which straddles both countries, is holding them.

"The terrorist acts being perpetrated by the Eritrean government are similar to those being carried out by outlaws," Seyoum added, in a diatribe against Asmara.

Ethiopia and Eritrea went to war in 1998-2000 over their disputed border and remain bitter foes.

The kidnapping has exacerbated tensions.

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