Hostage siege: Algeria under fire over raid
2013-01-18 13:55
Algiers - Algeria came under mounting international
criticism on Friday as fears grew for dozens of foreign hostages still unaccounted
for after a deadly commando raid against their Islamist captors at a desert gas
field.
Algerian Communications Minister Mohamed Said said on Thursday's
air and ground assault freed a "large number" of hostages, but
Algerian news reports said nearly 600 of those rescued were Algerian workers
but just a handful were among the 41 foreigners reported seized.
Britain said the "terrorist incident" was still
ongoing after Algerian officials acknowledged that while they had recaptured a
housing compound at the In Amenas field, the gas plant remained in the hands of
the militants.
Japan's foreign ministry summoned the Algerian ambassador to
demand an explanation as foreign governments said they had received no advance
warning of the Algerian decision to try to end the hostage-taking by force.
The Islamist militants had seized hundreds of hostages at
the field deep in the Sahara on Wednesday, purportedly to avenge a French-led
offensive in neighbouring Mali.
Algerian officials said soldiers were still surrounding the
site's main gas facility, which was yet to be secured.
Japanese plant builder JGC said it had confirmed the safety
of three of its Japanese staff and one Filipino employee, but the whereabouts
of 74 other staff, 14 of them Japanese, remained unknown.
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe cut short a visit to
Indonesia to deal with the crisis.
Two British hostages were reported freed but as many as 20
more were reported unaccounted for. London said it feared the worst, as Prime
Minister David Cameron cancelled a planned keynote speech on Europe.
Explosives
"The terrorist incident in Algeria remains
ongoing," a Foreign Office spokesperson said. "But the prime minister
has advised we should be prepared for bad news."
One Briton had already been confirmed dead in the original
hostage-taking.
Norway's Statoil, which operates the field along with
British oil giant BP and Algerian energy firm Sonatrach, said eight Norwegian
staff remained unaccounted for, while a ninth was safe but had been wounded.
France said two of its nationals had returned safe but that
it had no word on two others reported to have been among the hostages.
One man from Northern Ireland escaped. According to his
brother, Stephen McFaul fled when the convoy in which he was travelling came
under fire from the army, and had earlier "had explosives tied around his
neck".
The kidnappers said 34 captives had died in the assault, but
this was impossible to confirm. They told Mauritanian news agency ANI they
would "kill all the hostages if the Algerian forces succeed in entering
the complex".
Foreign governments said Algeria gave them no prior warning
of the raid. A senior US official said Washington "strongly
encouraged" the authorities to make the hostages' safety their top
priority.
The Japanese government said the army assault was
"regrettable" and that it was receiving no clear information from on
the ground as Algerian officials maintained a public silence on Friday.
The British prime minister was not given prior warning of
the Algerian army offensive, and would have preferred to have been consulted,
his spokesperson said.
Hostage drama
The chief hostage taker, Abu al-Baraa, had told Al-Jazeera
television: "We demand the Algerian army pull out from the area to allow
negotiations."
But Algeria insisted it would not negotiate with
"terrorists".
Oil prices turned higher in Asian trade on the unrest in the
North African producer with benchmark Brent North Sea crude for March delivery
up 16c to $111.26.
Algerian gas deliveries to Italy fell by 17% after
production was halted at In Amenas, a spokesperson for Italian transport group
Snam said, but analysts said the crisis was unlikely to threaten European
supplies too heavily.
The hostage drama dragged Algiers and Western powers into
the Mali conflict, taking the spotlight off French and government troops
battling the Islamists in control of the country's vast desert north.
The Malian army has retaken the central of Konna, which had
fallen to Islamists advancing from the north and sparked French military
intervention, the military and a regional security source said on Friday.
The UN special envoy for the Sahel, Romano Prodi, said the
French air and ground intervention in Mali was the only way to stop Islamists
creating "a terrorist safe haven in the heart of Africa."
On Thursday, more French troops poured into Mali, boosting
their number to 1 400, Paris said. At full strength the force will reach 2 500
soldiers.
