GERMANY/ALGERIA: GERMAN FM FISCHER EXPRESSES HOPE THAT 14 EUROPEAN HOSTAGES BEING HELD BY ALGERIAN MILITANTS IN SAHARA DESERT WILL BE RELEASED SOON

Record ID: 646138

  • Title: GERMANY/ALGERIA: GERMAN FM FISCHER EXPRESSES HOPE THAT 14 EUROPEAN HOSTAGES BEING HELD BY ALGERIAN MILITANTS IN SAHARA DESERT WILL BE RELEASED SOON
  • Date: 18th August 2003
  • Summary: (EU) BERLIN, GERMANY (AUGUST 18, 2003) (REUTERS) SV: JOSCHKA FISCHER, GERMAN FOREIGN MINISTER, WALKING TO MICROPHONES SCU: (SOUNDBITE) (German) JOSCHKA FISCHER, GERMAN FOREIGN MINISTER, SAYING: "I can't tell you anything new apart from what you have reported and from what journalists on location are reporting. The situation remains the same. We hope that the hostages will be released as soon as possible and may return to their families safe and sound". [REPORTER ASKING: "Earlier reports, also from (Deputy German Foreign Minister Juergen Chrobog) looked optimistic. But nothing has happened since. Why?] (SOUNDBITE) (German) JOSCHKA FISCHER, GERMAN FOREIGN MINISTER SAYING: "I have nothing to add except that we hope the Mali government will come to a successful conclusion and that our people as well as the citizens from Switzerland and the Netherlands will be freed. Thank you". / PULL OUT: FISCHER WALKS OFF
  • Embargoed: 2nd September 2003 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: BERLIN, GERMANY / UNKNOWN LOCATION, ALGERIA
  • City:
  • Country: Algeria
  • Topics: General,Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA3Q5JT80RZ7219OKZ2XPQNXVPF
  • Story Text: German Foreign Minister expresses hope that European hostages will be released soon.
    German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer expressed hope on Monday (August 18) that 14 European hostages being held in the Sahara desert by Algerian militants would be released soon.
    "We hope that the hostages will be released as soon as possible and may return to their families safe and sound", Fischer told reporters in Berlin.
    Asked why earlier reports about the imminent release of the hostages looked more and more unlikely, Fischer said he had "nothing to add except that we (German government) hope the Mali government will come to a successful conclusion and that our citizens as well as the citizens from Switzerland and the Netherlands will be freed".
    Negotiations to free the 14 European tourists held hostage for more than five months have reached an
    "extremely decisive phase", according to a top Malian official on Monday.
    A flurry of diplomatic activity in the West African country of Mali has raised hopes for the imminent release of the nine Germans, four Swiss and one Dutch.
    Trying to stop news getting out that might scupper efforts to free the tourists, European governments have imposed a virtual news blackout and declined to confirm or deny contradictory rumours over the possible release of the hostages.
    The 14 were among 32 European tourists seized in separate incidents in February and March while travelling in southern Algeria, famous for ancient grave sites but also a known hideout for militants, bandits and smugglers.
    Algerian commandos freed 17 of the hostages in May, killing their kidnappers who Algeria said belonged to the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC) fighting for a purist Islamist state.
    Heatstroke is thought to have killed another hostage, a 45-year-old German woman.
    Conflicting media reports on the remaining 14 hostages have met with a wall of silence from governments.
    The efforts to free the hostages have put rare international attention on Mali, an impoverished country named after an ancient empire which grew rich from trans-Saharan trade through the legendary city of Timbuktu -- now a byword for isolation.
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