The families of Kenyan truck drivers kidnapped in Iraq have criticised their government and urged France to step in and mediate the release of the hostages, whose execution was stayed on Monday to allow negotiations.
”If France can appoint an official [mediator], it will be good,” Mambo Idd — elder brother of one of Kenyan hostages, Ibrahim Khamis Idd (48) — said in the port city of Mombasa.
Mambo said Paris would be a good mediator, as ”France did not participate in the [military] operations in Iraq.
An Iraqi militant group calling itself Holders of the Black Banners last Wednesday kidnapped Ibrahim; fellow Kenyans Jalal Mohamed Awadh (39) and Faiz Khamis Salim (39); and three Indians and an Egyptian.
It threatened to execute them if their Kuwaiti employer does not pull out of Iraq.
Said Khamis Salim, the elder brother of Faiz, made the same appeal to Paris.
”I call on the French government to do something. They are friends to most Muslim and Arab governments,” he said, also in Mombasa, home to the three Kenyan hostages.
”Since the beginning, they [the French] did not support this war [in Iraq] and are not part of the coalition” led by the United States, Said explained.
They both expressed ”disappointment” with the support they have received from the Kenyan government, which they accused of failing to send a representative to meet the families and update them since the hostage crisis started last Wednesday.
Mambo pointed out that Kenyan Foreign Minister Chirau Ali Mwakwere was over the weekend in Kwale, about 40km south of Mombasa, but did not visit the families.
”Nobody came to say hello and even encourage the families,” said Mambo.
”We expected that at least a junior minister to call us or visit us,” Said added.
But Mwakwere was quick to defend the government, saying: ”We have not ignored the families, it’s that the issue of hostage negotiations is too sensitive. It should not be discussed in a public domain.”
”We are assuring them that we shall do our very best so that the Kenyans are released. They should remember that this is a matter that involves life and death,” Mwakwere said.
He added that Nairobi has sent two diplomats to Kuwait to negotiate the release of the hostages.
”The diplomats will meet the Kuwaiti government and owners of Kuwait and Gulf Link Transport company, which hired the drivers which were taken hostages, to find the best way of mediating their release,” he said.
The captors on Sunday named an Iraqi tribal dignitary, Sheikh Hisham al-Dulaimi, to negotiate on their behalf with the haulage firm, which has also indicated willingness to pull out of Iraq.
The militants are also demanding ”payment of damages to families of Fallujah victims and the release of Iraqi detainees from American and Kuwaiti prisons” before the hostages are freed.
The hostage-takers had put the deadline for starting to execute the hostages at 4pm GMT on Monday, but stayed it while negotiations proceed. — Sapa-AFP