GERMANY: Germany offers 'deepest sympathy' to victims and relatives of Algerian hostage crisis

Record ID: 574154

  • Title: GERMANY: Germany offers 'deepest sympathy' to victims and relatives of Algerian hostage crisis
  • Date: 20th January 2013
  • Summary: BERLIN, GERMANY (JANUARY 20, 2013) (REUTERS) VARIOUS EXTERIORS OF GERMAN FOREIGN MINISTRY WITH TV TOWER REFLECTED IN WINDOW SIGN READING: FOREIGN MINISTRY GERMAN FOREIGN MINISTER, GUIDO WESTERWELLE, ARRIVING FOR NEWS CONFERENCE (SOUNDBITE) (German) GERMAN FOREIGN MINISTER, GUIDO WESTERWELLE, SAYING: "We are distraught about the many victims who died during the hostage situation in Algeria. The hostage-taking shows the terrible face of this Islamist terror. These are terrorists, not freedom-fighters. They are terrorists, criminals who have no respect for innocent lives." CLOSE OF WESTERWELLE JOURNALIST TAKING NOTES (SOUNDBITE) (German) GERMAN FOREIGN MINISTER, GUIDO WESTERWELLE, SAYING: "In the name of the German government I would like to express our deepest sympathy for the victims and of course their families. We grieve with the families, with the Algerian families as much as with the families of the foreign and international people affected." JOURNALISTS TAKING NOTES (SOUNDBITE) (German) GERMAN FOREIGN MINISTER, GUIDO WESTERWELLE, SAYING: "We want to take part in a European Union training mission. It is also about providing financial support for the West African states who are taking part in the mission. Germany is ready to play its part both in offering financial support and to meet our obligations. At the end of the month there will be a donor conference in Addis Ababa and we will of course, along with our partners, make commitments and act." VARIOUS OF JOURNALISTS TAKING NOTES (SOUNDBITE) (German) GERMAN FOREIGN MINISTER, GUIDO WESTERWELLE, SAYING: "In the end it is of course about providing humanitarian aid for the ever growing number of victims and refugees. I can assure you that we are in constant contact with our partners in the European Union and Africa and particularly in France, both to maintain political discussion but also, in light of developments on the ground, to be able to make fast decisions about where and how Germany can offer further support." WESTERWELLE LEAVING NEWS CONFERENCE
  • Embargoed: 4th February 2013 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Germany
  • Country: Germany
  • Topics: Conflict,International Relations,Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA7EDR5I3U9QAYYGPKMZ4F4LBK9
  • Story Text: Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle on Sunday (January 20) offered Germany's 'deepest sympathies' to victims and relatives of the Algerian hostage crisis, calling the Islamist aggressors, 'terrorists'.
    "We are distraught about the many victims who died during the hostage situation in Algeria. The hostage-taking shows the terrible face of this Islamist terror. These are terrorists, not freedom-fighters. They are terrorists, criminals who have no respect for innocent lives," Westerwelle said at an impromptu news conference in Berlin.
    Algeria warned on Sunday that the hostage death toll from a siege at a desert gas plant would rise, after its troops staged a final assault which killed all the remaining Islamist gunmen.
    The country's Interior Ministry had reported on Saturday that 23 hostages and 32 militants were killed during assaults launched by Algerian special forces to end the crisis, with 107 foreign hostages and 685 Algerian hostages freed.
    The Islamist militants seized the remote compound near the Libyan border, taking a large number of hostages.
    "In the name of the German government I would like to express our deepest sympathy for the victims and of course their families. We grieve with the families, with the Algerian families as much as with the families of the foreign and international people affected," Westerwelle said.
    The militant attack was one of the most audacious in recent years and almost certainly planned before French troops launched the operation in Mali this month to stem an advance by Islamist fighters.
    Hundreds of hostages escaped on Thursday when the army launched a rescue operation, but many hostages were killed.
    Westerwelle also pledged more aid for Mali currently involved in repelling an offensive by Islamist rebels.
    "We want to take part in a European Union training mission. It is also about providing financial support for the West African states who are taking part in the mission. Germany is ready to play its part both in offering financial support and to meet our obligations. At the end of the month there will be a donor conference in Addis Ababa and we will of course, along with our partners, make commitments and act," he said.
    "In the end it is if course about providing humanitarian aid for the ever growing number of victims and refugees. I can assure you that we are in constant contact with our partners in the European Union and Africa and particularly in France, both to maintain political discussion but also, in light of developments on the ground, to be able to make fast decisions about where and how Germany can offer further support," he added.
    Mali's recent troubles began with a coup in Bamako last March, ending a period of stable rule that saw a series of elections. In the confusion that followed, Islamist forces seized large swathes of the north and imposed a strict rule reminiscent of Afghanistan under the Taliban.
    Military experts say France and its African allies must now capitalise on a week of hard-hitting air strikes by seizing the initiative on the ground to prevent the insurgents from withdrawing into the desert and reorganizing.
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