Talks are under way to secure the freedom of 31 European tourists who are being held in the Sahara desert, the Algerian Government has said. "Contacts are taking place at the moment on the liberation of the tourists," Tourism Minister Lakhdar Dorbani told the national parliament's tourism commission, Algerian state radio reports.
| Boy, that's a thankless job: Algeria's tourism minister... |
His statement was the first confirmation by an Algerian official that talks to secure the release of the hostages were being held. The minister declined to specify with whom the talks were being held. Some of the 31 tourists - 15 Germans, 10 Austrians, four Swiss nationals, a Dutchman and a Swede - have been missing since February. El Watan newspaper quotes Algerian security officials as saying that a gang of bandits had kidnapped the tourists in return for a ransom, and that talks on securing their release had been under way for three weeks. The paper said the tourists had been located in the Tamelrik mountain range, about 1,500 kilometres (900 miles) south-east of Algiers. Earlier reports speculated that the tourists had been kidnapped by the militant Islamic Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC), linked to Osama Bin Laden's al-Qaeda network.
That's my guess. |