MALI: GERMAN AIR FORCE PLANE LEAVES BAMAKO TO COLLECT 14 RELEASED EUROPEAN HOSTAGES KIDNAPPED BY ALGERIAN MILITANTS
Record ID:
588525
MALI: GERMAN AIR FORCE PLANE LEAVES BAMAKO TO COLLECT 14 RELEASED EUROPEAN HOSTAGES KIDNAPPED BY ALGERIAN MILITANTS
- Title: MALI: GERMAN AIR FORCE PLANE LEAVES BAMAKO TO COLLECT 14 RELEASED EUROPEAN HOSTAGES KIDNAPPED BY ALGERIAN MILITANTS
- Date: 19th August 2003
- Summary: (EU) BAMAKO, MALI (AUGUST 19, 2003) (REUTERS) 1. WIDE OF GERMAN AIR FORCE TRANSALL AIRPLANE PARKED ON TARMAC AT BAMAKO AIRPORT 0.07 2. SLV MEN SEATED BY SIDE OF TARMAC 0.13 3. VARIOUS MEMBERS OF GERMAN ENTOURAGE WALKING ONTO SMALL AIRCRAFT (3 SHOTS) 0.31 4. SLV LUGGAGE BY SIDE OF AIRCRAFT 0.36 5. VARIOUS, OF GERMAN ENTOURAGE CARRYING ITEMS ONTO SMALL AIRCRAFT (3 SHOTS) 1.01 6. VARIOUS, ACTIVITY AROUND AIRCRAFT (4 SHOTS) 1.25 7. WIDE OF GERMAN AIRFORCE PLANE AND SMALL PLANE PARKED ON RUNWAY 1.35 8. VARIOUS, PEOPLE STANDING BY AIRFORCE PLANE (2 SHOTS) 1.47 9. VARIOUS OF ACTVITIY AROUND SMALL PLANE (2 SHOTS) 2.02 10. WIDE OF GERMAN AIRFORCE PLANE 2.08 11. SLV PEOPLE STANDING AROUND LOADING BAY OF MILITARY PLANE (4 SHOTS) 2.40 12. SLV AIRFORCE PERSONNEL STANDING BY PLANE 2.48 13. WIDE OF AIRFORCE PLANE ON RUNWAY 2.52 14. VARIOUS, TRANSALL AIRPLANE TAKING OFF (2 SHOTS) 3.08 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
- Embargoed: 3rd September 2003 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: BAMAKO, MALI
- City:
- Country: Mali Malta
- Reuters ID: LVA6HMR71YEGJNBIV3MSCS5D6O76
- Story Text: A German Air Force plane has left the Malian capital
of Bamako to collect 14 freed European hostages.
The German Transall airplane left Bamako
shortly before 1500GMT on Tuesday (August 19) and was
believed to be heading to Gao, in the northeast of Mali, to
collect the freed hostages. The 14 European hostages were
freed on Monday (August 18) after being held for more than
five months in the Sahara by Algerian militants.
Diplomats in Mali had said earlier that the nine
Germans, four Swiss and one Dutch tourist
were being escorted back to the capital Bamako, where two
planes are waiting to fly them to Europe.
The freed hostages are expected to arrive in Bamako
around 2000GMT on Tuesday.
From Bamako, the former hostages are likely to be flown
to Germany where their arrival at Cologne airport could be
around 0500 GMT on Wednesday (August 20).
According to diplomats, the former hostages will spend
about three hours in Bamako before heading to Germany.
The hostages were among 32 tourists seized in separate
incidents in February and March while travelling in
southern Algeria, famous for its grave sites but notorious
for smuggling and banditry.
The 14 were moved to Mali last month after Algerian
commandos rescued 17 of the hostages in May. One hostage,
Michaela Spitzer, is thought to have died of heatstroke.
Algeria said the hostages had been snatched by the
Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat, who are fighting
for a purist Islamist state.
The kidnappers kept their captives on the move, hiding
among the rocks and dunes of the vast Sahara in
temperatures that regularly topped 45 degrees Celsius (113
Fahrenheit).
German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer told a Berlin
news conference the hostages were in good health.
The German media reported that the government was
planning to reimburse Mali for meeting ransom demands of
about $5 million with development aid from Berlin.
German officials, who have led the negotiations along
with their Malian counterparts, have refused to confirm or
deny such reports.
The abductions have been a setback for oil-rich Algeria,
which had seen a sharp fall in rebel attacks and a
return of foreign tourism and investment after a decade of
violence that erupted after the cancellation of 1992
elections that radical Islamists were set to win.
- Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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