Tue, 24 Aug 2010
Madrid - Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb released two Spaniards who spent nearly nine months in captivity after "some of our requests" were met, the North African branch of the group said in a statement quoted by the Spanish daily El Pais on Tuesday.
Sources close to Burkina Faso negotiators who mediated in the deal earlier said Spain may have paid up to 7 million dollars for Albert Vilalta and Roque Pascual, who arrived in Barcelona overnight.
Some reports put the sum at 7 million euros instead of dollars (8.9 million dollars).
There was also speculation that the release of the Spaniards was linked to an alleged deal between Mali and Mauritania to free an al-Qaeda collaborator whom a Mauritanian court had sentenced to 12 years in prison for organizing the kidnapping.
Omar Ould Sidi Ould Hamma, known as Omar the Saharan, was extradited to Mali which freed him shortly before Vilalta and Pascual were released.
The two aid workers were abducted in Mauritania on November 29 with a woman, Alicia Gamez, and taken to northern Mali. Gamez was released in March.
The way Spain had dealt with the case of Pascual and Vilalta was "a lesson for the French secret services," al-Qaeda said in an apparent reference to French hostage Michel Germaneau, who was killed in July.
Al-Qaeda then announced it killed Germaneau in retaliation for a French-supported raid by the Mauritanian military in northern Mali.
Moustapha Shafi, a Mauritanian advisor to Burkina Faso President Blaise Compaore who mediated between Spain and al-Qaeda, told El Pais that the kidnappers "came close to killing" the Spanish hostages in the aftermath of the raid.
Shafi said he managed to convince al-Qaeda that Madrid opposed the raid, in which several terrorists were killed.
Spain had earlier promised Algeria that it would not pay a ransom for the hostages, the daily ABC said.
Unlike France and Britain, Spain had "given in to blackmail by fundamentalists," a commentator wrote in the daily El Mundo. Generally, however, there was little criticism of the fact that the government may have paid a ransom to save the lives of the hostages.
Pascual and Vilalta flew to Barcelona from the Burkina Faso capital Ouagadougou on board a Spanish air force plane.
Al-Qaeda treated its hostages well "within (the limits imposed by) the harsh conditions of the desert," said Vilalta, who walked with the help of a crutch after being injured by gunshots during his abduction.
The two Spaniards were the hostages held the longest so far by al-Qaeda in the Sahel region.
Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/news/340749,were-met-summary.html.
Madrid - Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb released two Spaniards who spent nearly nine months in captivity after "some of our requests" were met, the North African branch of the group said in a statement quoted by the Spanish daily El Pais on Tuesday.
Sources close to Burkina Faso negotiators who mediated in the deal earlier said Spain may have paid up to 7 million dollars for Albert Vilalta and Roque Pascual, who arrived in Barcelona overnight.
Some reports put the sum at 7 million euros instead of dollars (8.9 million dollars).
There was also speculation that the release of the Spaniards was linked to an alleged deal between Mali and Mauritania to free an al-Qaeda collaborator whom a Mauritanian court had sentenced to 12 years in prison for organizing the kidnapping.
Omar Ould Sidi Ould Hamma, known as Omar the Saharan, was extradited to Mali which freed him shortly before Vilalta and Pascual were released.
The two aid workers were abducted in Mauritania on November 29 with a woman, Alicia Gamez, and taken to northern Mali. Gamez was released in March.
The way Spain had dealt with the case of Pascual and Vilalta was "a lesson for the French secret services," al-Qaeda said in an apparent reference to French hostage Michel Germaneau, who was killed in July.
Al-Qaeda then announced it killed Germaneau in retaliation for a French-supported raid by the Mauritanian military in northern Mali.
Moustapha Shafi, a Mauritanian advisor to Burkina Faso President Blaise Compaore who mediated between Spain and al-Qaeda, told El Pais that the kidnappers "came close to killing" the Spanish hostages in the aftermath of the raid.
Shafi said he managed to convince al-Qaeda that Madrid opposed the raid, in which several terrorists were killed.
Spain had earlier promised Algeria that it would not pay a ransom for the hostages, the daily ABC said.
Unlike France and Britain, Spain had "given in to blackmail by fundamentalists," a commentator wrote in the daily El Mundo. Generally, however, there was little criticism of the fact that the government may have paid a ransom to save the lives of the hostages.
Pascual and Vilalta flew to Barcelona from the Burkina Faso capital Ouagadougou on board a Spanish air force plane.
Al-Qaeda treated its hostages well "within (the limits imposed by) the harsh conditions of the desert," said Vilalta, who walked with the help of a crutch after being injured by gunshots during his abduction.
The two Spaniards were the hostages held the longest so far by al-Qaeda in the Sahel region.
Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/news/340749,were-met-summary.html.
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