Posted on 04/22/2009 6:57:43 PM PDT by Cindy
April 22, 2009
Breaking: AlQaeda (AQIM) Release Four Western Hostages In Mali Update on AlQaeda Kidnaps Six Westerners (Identified: 2 Canadians, 1 Brit, 1 German, 2 Swiss)
Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) has released four hostages but unfortunately the Brit and other Swiss(male) is still being held. The article doesn't state if monies or demands were met.
Al-Qaeda's North African[AQIM] branch on Wednesday released in Mali two Canadian diplomats, a German and a Swiss tourist kidnapped several months ago, but held on to two other Europeans.
The kidnappers released Robert Fowler, UN special envoy to Niger and his assistant Louis Gay, who were snatched in December last year in Niger and two female tourists out of a group of four nabbed in January.
(Excerpt) Read more at mypetjawa.mu.nu ...
http://www.travel.state.gov/travel/cis_pa_tw/pa/pa_3835.html
Travel Alert
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
Bureau of Consular Affairs
This information is current as of today, Wed Apr 22 2009 18:58:36 GMT-0700 (PDT).
Mali
January 07, 2009
Our “messiah” will use this to show we can be friends with more little devils.
YEA!!! Obama did it with the change in interrogation techniques!!! Yea! Yea! Yea!
(sarcasm off)
They’ve obviously heard that America is changing and this is a sign that they will also
MALI???
Did anyone even know these people were being held hostage? Why didn’t our media tell us about it?
Previously...
Photos included.
blog:
http://mypetjawa.mu.nu/archives/196433.php
February 19, 2009
“Al Qaeda Kidnaps 6 Westerners in North Africa (Identified: 2 Canadians, 1 Brit, 1 German, 2 Swiss)”
UPDATE:
http://www.google.com/hostednews/canadianpress/article/ALeqM5gOSp3LEWdKuo3j0GAn5qKBpREgdA
“Canadian diplomats freed in Africa, Mali confirms”
9 hours ago
SNIPPET: “OTTAWA — Two Canadian diplomats kidnapped in Africa have been freed after four months in captivity, the government of Mali confirmed Wednesday.
A government spokesman said Louis Guay and Robert Fowler, a high-level UN diplomat who served as an adviser to several Canadian prime ministers, have been freed in northern Mali.
The men were on a UN mission in neighbouring Niger when they disappeared in December. Al-Qaida militants later claimed responsibility for their abduction.
A spokesman for Mali’s president says kidnappers have released four foreign hostages, including the two Canadian UN staffers.
Seydou Cissouma said Fowler and Guay were freed Wednesday, along with two women tourists kidnapped in a separate incident in January. He had no further details about two other men snatched in the same incident.
“We are aware of these media reports and have no comment at this time,” Catherine Loubier, a spokeswoman for Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon, when news reports first surfaced Wednesday of the release.
In February, al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb claimed in an audio tape played on the Al-Jazeera television network that it was holding the two Canadians hostage.
It made no demands at that time, but in the past has received ransoms for western tourists kidnapped in the vast sub-Saharan region.”
Thanks for the ping, Cindy.
#10
You’re welcome fanfan.
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