2008 April 08 « Sociolingo’s Mali

Mali: Austrian hostages - update 08-04-08

After some optimism, things appear to be looking bleak for the hostages

VIENNA, Austria — The latest deadline set by an al-Qaida affiliate for authorities to release jailed militants in return for two Austrian tourists kidnapped in North Africa expired Sunday with no word on the fate of the hostages.

Good news at long last!

Austria “confident” Qaeda will free Sahara hostages

06 Apr 2008 12:52:37 GMT

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Source: Reuters

By Tiemoko Diallo BAMAKO, April 6 (Reuters) - Austria is confident of securing the safe release of two citizens being held hostage in the Sahara by al Qaeda, which has threatened to kill the pair if its demands are not met by Sunday midnight, an envoy said. In postings on Islamist Web sites, al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, the group’s North African wing, has demanded the release of 10 militants held in Tunisia and Algeria and, according to security sources in Algeria, a cash ransom. “We are confident, and in this respect we share the attitude, the views of the Malian authorities including President Amadou Toumani Toure, that we’ll have sufficient time … (for) our goal of liberating the hostages and bringing them together with their dear ones and relatives back home without being harmed,” Austria’s Ambassador Anton Prohaska told Reuters. Prohaska said he could give no details of negotiations, al Qaeda’s demands or whether the deadline had been extended.

Source: AlertNet

HOSTAGE NEGOTIATIONS

Light-skinned Tuareg nomads launched revolts from Kidal in the 1960s and 1990s demanding greater freedom from a black African-dominated government seated far away in Bamako. Peace agreements after the 1990s rebellion went some way to addressing Tuareg demands, with former fighters integrated into the army and Tuareg politicians winning more responsibility, but the region remains restive and awash with arms. Fighting between the army and Tuareg rebels is believed to have complicated efforts to free the two Austrians — Andrea Kloiber, 43, and Wolfgang Ebner, 51 — who are thought to be held at an Islamist hideout in the Kidal region. They disappeared in February while on holiday in Tunisia. Algerian-based al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, in website postings, has set a deadline of April 6 for payment of a ransom and the release of militants held in Algeria and Tunisia. Tuareg tribesmen have in the past clashed with members of the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC), as al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb was previously known, and helped negotiate the release of European tourists kidnapped by them. Austrian diplomats have been in Mali trying to secure the tourists’ release although Mali’s government has said there is no concrete evidence the pair are on its territory. Some reports have suggested they have been moved to northern Mauritania, where the GSPC has been active. (For full Reuters Africa coverage and to have your say on the top issues, visit: http://africa.reuters.com/ ) (Additional reporting by Mark Heinrich in Vienna; Writing by Nick Tattersall; Editing by Robert Woodward)Source: AlertNet

Tuareg politician says hostages not in Mali-report

28 Mar 2008 11:28:47 GMT

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Source: Reuters

VIENNA, March 28 (Reuters) - A Malian Tuareg politician said in an interview published on Friday that two Austrian tourists held captive by al Qaeda in the Sahara were not in the country, as previously suspected. Assarid Ag Imbarcaouane, a member of the National Assembly, told Austrian daily Oesterreich that nomadic Tuareg tribesman who roam the isolated swathes of northern Mali would be aware if the hostages were present. The kidnappers would need fuel for vehicles and would get it from smugglers, who would tell the Tuaregs, he said. “They are not in Mali. I would know and our President (Amadou Toumani Toure) would know.”

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Source: BBC NEWS

More than a month after their disappearance, the fate of two Austrian hostages who were captured while touring the Tunisian desert remains shrouded in uncertainty.

But the case has exposed the difficulty of controlling the vast expanses of the Sahara as al-Qaeda’s North Africa affiliate seeks to make its presence felt across the Maghreb.

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Source: The Times

25-03-08

VIENNA - Austria is pressing on with talks to free two nationals seized in northern Africa by an Al-Qaeda linked group after the weekend expiry of a deadline set by the kidnappers, an official said on Monday.

“We have more time for talks,” foreign ministry spokesman Peter Launsky-Tieffenthal told AFP. “We’re continuing all our efforts with all our contacts in the region.”

He however refused to confirm media reports that the deadline was being pushed back by three days.

Full report

Source: Alert Net

al Qaeda says Austrian hostages have a week more -Web

17 Mar 2008 21:13:00 GMT

Source: Reuters

WASHINGTON, March 17 (Reuters) - An al Qaeda affiliate holding two captured Austrians has extended by one week, to midnight on Sunday, its deadline for Austria to meet its demands, according to an Internet posting monitored on Monday. Austria had said on Sunday the deadline had been extended for an unspecified time. The U.S.-based terrorism monitoring service SITE Institute said Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb posted the note to Jihadist forums. In a SITE translation, the group said the extension was “the final opportunity from the Mujahideen to absolve their responsibility before the families of the two hostages and the Austrian people, and to allow adequate time for the state of Austria to respond to the legitimate demands.” It warned that any military attempt to free the two would lead to the “immediate execution” of the kidnapped.

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Source: Reuters

ALGIERS (Reuters) - Two Austrian tourists abducted in Tunisia and believed to be held by al Qaeda’s north Africa wing have been moved by their kidnappers to Mali, an Algerian newspaper said on its Web site on Tuesday.

Ennahar quoted sources as saying the couple had been taken across the Sahara desert by an armed group from al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb and reached the Sahel region after a four-day journey through the area between Algeria and Libya.

“Ennahar obtained information that the group has already returned to its bases in the Sahel on the territory of the republic of Mali,” said the site, which specializes in security.

There was no immediate word from Algerian authorities on the kidnapping of the couple, named by relatives as tax consultant Wolfgang Ebner, 51 and his companion, Andrea Kloiber, 43.

Analysts said the fact the kidnappers had announced the abduction suggested they were ready to negotiate and pointed out that the group had seized hostages to raise money in the past.

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April 8, 2008 Posted by sociolingo | ENVIRONMENT, MALI, Mali news, POLITICS | hostages | No Comments