A group of European tourists and their Egyptian guides who were kidnapped by armed bandits in a remote desert 10 days ago have been freed unharmed, officials said on Monday.
”The hostages have been freed and are in good health. They are being brought to Cairo airport,” Egyptian state television quoted an official as saying.
The hostages — five Germans, five Italians, a Romanian and eight Egyptian drivers and tour guides — were snatched while on a safari in a lawless area of Egypt’s south-western desert on September 19.
The kidnappers — whose identities remain unknown — had demanded a ransom but it was not known if any money was paid to secure the release of the 19.
Security officials said they were being flown back to al-Maza military airport, which is next to Cairo’s international airport, aboard a military aircraft.
”They’ll be here within two hours,” Tourism Ministry spokesperson Omayma el-Huseini said.
Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini confirmed the release, telling Sky Italia that ”our compatriots are free, and they are with Egyptian forces”.
Their release came after an Egyptian security official said kidnappers had agreed to let their captives go in return for a ransom, in a deal hammered out before Sudanese troops killed six hostage-takers in a shootout on Sunday.
”The problem was solved. They had agreed to the ransom. It was merely a matter of receiving the hostages, but then this surprise happened,” the official said, referring to the shooting.
Sudanese forces killed six of the bandits and arrested two in a shootout after spotting them in the Sudan-Egypt-Libya border area. A Sudanese official said the bandits had moved the hostages to a hideout in Chad.
The kidnappers had demanded that Germany take charge of payment of an $8,8-million ransom to be handed over to the German wife of the tour organiser, one of those snatched.
However, there was no information about whether this had been paid.
Egypt’s independent al-Masry al-Yom newspaper had earlier quoted a German negotiator as saying the release had been delayed because the kidnappers were seeking assurances they would not be arrested.
The negotiator added that the bandits had said they would release five women hostages after payment of the ransom and hold on to the rest until they secured an escape route, the paper said.
After they were kidnapped, the group was first moved across the border to Sudan to the remote mountain region of Jebel Uweinat, a plateau that straddles the borders of Egypt, Libya and Sudan, before the bandits took them into Chad, according to Sudanese officials.
Sudan says the kidnappers belong to a splinter Darfur rebel group, the Sudanese Liberation Army-Unity (SLA-Unity). An SLA-Unity spokesperson denied his group’s involvement, but warned that the hostages might be harmed if force was used against the bandits.
Kidnappings of foreigners are extremely rare in Egypt, although in 2001 an armed Egyptian held four German tourists hostage for three days in Luxor, demanding that his estranged wife bring his two sons back from Germany. He freed the hostages unharmed.
Bomb attacks aimed at foreigners have been more common, with the most recent occurring between 2004 and 2006 in popular Red Sea resorts, killing dozens of people. — AFP
