A debate is raging in Germany about the government’s policy on negotiating the release of hostages taken abroad after the interior ministry implicitly acknowledged that secret ransom payments were made to kidnappers.
Following a string of kidnappings of German nationals, particularly in Afghanistan and Iraq, the government is reportedly discussing ways of implementing a tougher strategy in an apparent attempt to reduce the frequency of the seizures.
Because it is known that the German government — like those of Italy and France — is willing to pay ransoms, the “value” of German kidnap victims has risen in the Middle East, experts have acknowledged. Observers in the field say ransom money often goes to finance weaponry for insurgents.
The German government is reportedly considering whether to abandon its approach and follow the United States, British and Israeli policy of refusing to negotiate with kidnappers.
British officials believe that ransom payments by its European partners endanger all Westerners. Nato secretaryÂ-general Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said in March he would begin talks within the organisation on a common response to hostage-taking. The initiative followed the release in Afghanistan of Italian journalist Daniele Mastrogiacomo amid signs that Rome had pressed the authorities in Kabul into releasing five prisoners, including, reportedly, the brother of the late Taliban commander Mullah Dadullah.
Observers believe a precedent was set in 2005 when Germany reportedly paid between â,¬5-million and â,¬R7-million for the release of a Bavarian archaeologist, Susanne Osthoff. Soon after Osthoff’s release, Leipzig engineers Rene Braunlich and Thomas Nitzschke were kidnapped in Iraq. Iraq’s ambassador to Berlin, Ala al-Hashimi, embarrassed the German government with his admission that “loads of money” had been paid to secure their release.
Since the chancellor, Angela Merkel, took office in November 2005, hardly a week has gone by in which she has not had to deal with a hostage drama, and those close to her say she considers it to be a shadow over her otherwise successful chancellorship.
The latest case involves an engineer from Ottobrunn, who is being held in a cave complex in Afghanistan. His kidnapper is believed to be a Taliban chief who allegedly seized him in revenge for an unfulfilled building contract. His colleague was allegedly killed by the hostage-takers last week. — Â