Posted on 07/09/2004 7:34:18 AM PDT by areafiftyone
SOFIA, July 9 (Reuters) - Bulgaria pledged unwavering support for U.S. policy in Iraq despite the kidnapping of two Bulgarian civilian truck drivers by militants and said it was making desperate efforts to save them.
Defence Minister Nikolai Svinarov told reporters after a security council meeting in Sofia that contact had not yet been established with the kidnappers.
"Firstly, we will try to extend the deadline which expires at 11 p.m. tonight (2000 GMT on Friday)," he said. "The situation is very difficult." The estimate was based on Bulgarian time, which is three hours ahead of GMT.
A firm supporter of the U.S.-led war on Iraq, the new NATO member state currently has 470 troops in the southern Iraqi city of Kerbala.
Bulgarian Prime Minister Simeon Saxe-Coburg said his country was doing all it could for its nationals, without ruling out negotiating with the militants who threatened to kill them.
But his foreign minister, Solomon Passy, made clear Bulgaria's staunchly pro-U.S. policy would not change as a result of the kidnappings.
"Bulgaria is a stable state with a predictable foreign policy and we cannot expect it would change its foreign policy because of one or another group," Passy told state radio.
Bulgaria's Foreign Ministry identified the two hostages as civilian truck drivers Ivailo Kepov and Georgi Lazov and said they had left for Iraq on June 19.
Their kidnappers threatened on Thursday to kill them in 24 hours unless U.S.-led forces freed prisoners, Arabic satellite television Al Jazeera reported. A broadcast video tape appeared to show the two hostages sitting in front of masked captors.
Al Jazeera said the tape came from the Tawhid and Jihad Group headed by Jordanian Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, who has been accused by Washington of links to Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda.
The group has claimed responsibility for beheading two civilians since May.
PM VOWS EFFORTS
Bulgarian Prime Minister Simeon Saxe-Coburg told reporters in Belgrade it was necessary in such situations to "engage all possible channels, means and connections."
Ruling party chief Stanimir Ilchev told reporters after a parliament commission meeting on the crisis it appeared that the captives had been held for several days before being presented by the militants, whose deadline was unusually short.
The hostages' wives arrived in Sofia and were meeting Passy while the company which employed the men said it was suspending operations in Iraq.
"Only Passy and the foreign ministry can help us now. We are praying," Lazov's wife Ludmila Aleksova told BTA state news agency from her home town of Blagoevgrad in southern Bulgaria earlier.
Kepov's wife, Neli Kepova, told state radio: "We only want them back, alive and in good health."
The two drivers were taken hostage after delivering cars to the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, state radio said.
They worked for a small Bulgarian transport company, Dimitrova-Stoimenov-Gracia-Eva, which said it was supplying second-hand cars under a contract with an Iraqi businessman.
"We are now stopping operations in Iraq," company manager Ivan Stoimenov told the radio.
The kidnapping comes three months after a Bulgarian driver was killed in an attack on a convoy of trucks between Basra and Baghdad.
Bulgaria-one of the few Euro countries, that "get it".
Sounds like the employer caved, though...
Well, an employer probably wouldnt be shielded from lawsuits, so its understandable. With democracy and capitlaism you have to take the good with the bad!
Thank you, "new European," Bulgaria.
Has any country given in to these creeps yet? No.
So why do they continue, because the media loves it and continues to provide them with free publicity.
Bulgarians have been through hell with Turk Muslims and have survived. They will not budge by this depicable cowardly blackmail.
"Sounds like the employer caved, though..."
Are profits worth more than lives? Most employers never even considered operations in Iraq. Did they all cave too?
Private companies don't show moral courage for operating in dangerous environments. They weigh the risks versus the returns and make their decisions. Sounds like the downside has come to outweigh the upside for this particular company. Can't blame them for that.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.