Sahara hostages get the bill
2003-10-20 13:20
Detmold, Germany - German tourists released from a gruelling hostage ordeal in the Sahara have been asked by the government to pay part of the bill for their rescue, one of them said on Monday.
Rainer Bracht said the foreign ministry had sent the nine former hostages a letter asking them to stump up €2 301 (about R19 000) each.
The figure is based on the costs of communications and trips by officials involved in negotiating with the abductors and the hostages' flight home on a German air force plane after their release.
Bracht criticised the ministry, saying victims of violence abroad must not be treated any differently to those in Germany, where they do not pay.
Time to pay
He said he was going to ask for more time to pay.
The Germans were among a group of 14 European tourists released in August after more than five months in the hands of a radical Algerian Islamic group, the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC).
Berlin is reported to have paid a ransom to the abductors, although it has so far flatly refused to comment.
A 15th tourist, a German woman, died during the arduous ordeal. The other Europeans were four Swiss nationals and a Dutch man.
German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder has vowed that the abductors, whom he described as "terrorists," would be hunted down and brought to justice.
The federal prosecutor's office has issued an international arrest warrant for a leader of the GSPC, Amari Saifi, known as Abderrezak "the Para."
The warrant accuses him of blackmailing the German government.