CatoCooper13
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11:37 AEST Sat Jul 24 2004
AFP - Kidnappers seized an Egyptian diplomat in Iraq on Friday as Cairo vowed not to send troops to the country and relatives of other hostages begged for the release of their loved ones threatened with death.
The Egyptian embassy confirmed that one of its diplomats had been kidnapped, the latest abduction in a wave of foreign hostage-taking that has proved a constant headache for the interim Iraqi administration.
Mohammed Mamdouh Hilmi Kotb, the second Egyptian to be taken hostage in 48 hours, is the first diplomat to have been seized since the kidnapping mania broke out earlier this year.
"Yes, yes sir it is him," First Secretary Bader el-Din el-Desouki told AFP, referring to Kotb, the third most senior official at the embassy.
The confirmation came minutes after a video tape was broadcast on the Al-Jazeera Arab television network. In it, the captive, named as Kotb, was shown sitting in front of six masked armed men dressed head-to-toe in black.
He was purportedly kidnapped by a the "Lions of Allah" in response to what the group described as "Egyptian Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif's offer to Iraq of his country's security expertise." No demands were made for his release.
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In Cairo, Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul Gheit reacted to the kidnapping by saying that the Egyptian government would "absolutely not" consider sending troops to the strife-torn country.
New UN envoy to Iraq, Ashraf Jehangir Qazi, expressed concern about security in Iraq after news broke of the latest kidnapped following a meeting with US Secretary of State Colin Powell.
Meanwhile, in India, families begged for the safe release of three hostages held in Iraq and pleaded for the government to help as the foreign minister admitted the crisis was serious.
"They can take every penny I have in lieu of my only son. I am ready to give anything to them to see my son," wept Ram Murti, the father of one of the three Indian truck drivers being held by militants.
The Indians, who along with three Kenyans and an Egyptian are being held by an Iraqi group calling itself Holders of the Black Banners.
In New Delhi, Foreign Minister Natwar Singh said he did not "want to give any false hopes" to the families of the hostages.
"It is a serious situation and has to be dealt with in a sensitive manner," Singh told reporters.
He said India so far had no contact with the abductors, who have threatened to execute the captives one by one if their employer does not pull out of Iraq.
Their employer, Kuwait and Gulf Link Transport, is likely to start ferrying goods only up to the border, transport sources said in Kuwait City.
©AAP 2004
AFP - Kidnappers seized an Egyptian diplomat in Iraq on Friday as Cairo vowed not to send troops to the country and relatives of other hostages begged for the release of their loved ones threatened with death.
The Egyptian embassy confirmed that one of its diplomats had been kidnapped, the latest abduction in a wave of foreign hostage-taking that has proved a constant headache for the interim Iraqi administration.
Mohammed Mamdouh Hilmi Kotb, the second Egyptian to be taken hostage in 48 hours, is the first diplomat to have been seized since the kidnapping mania broke out earlier this year.
"Yes, yes sir it is him," First Secretary Bader el-Din el-Desouki told AFP, referring to Kotb, the third most senior official at the embassy.
The confirmation came minutes after a video tape was broadcast on the Al-Jazeera Arab television network. In it, the captive, named as Kotb, was shown sitting in front of six masked armed men dressed head-to-toe in black.
He was purportedly kidnapped by a the "Lions of Allah" in response to what the group described as "Egyptian Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif's offer to Iraq of his country's security expertise." No demands were made for his release.
advertisement
In Cairo, Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul Gheit reacted to the kidnapping by saying that the Egyptian government would "absolutely not" consider sending troops to the strife-torn country.
New UN envoy to Iraq, Ashraf Jehangir Qazi, expressed concern about security in Iraq after news broke of the latest kidnapped following a meeting with US Secretary of State Colin Powell.
Meanwhile, in India, families begged for the safe release of three hostages held in Iraq and pleaded for the government to help as the foreign minister admitted the crisis was serious.
"They can take every penny I have in lieu of my only son. I am ready to give anything to them to see my son," wept Ram Murti, the father of one of the three Indian truck drivers being held by militants.
The Indians, who along with three Kenyans and an Egyptian are being held by an Iraqi group calling itself Holders of the Black Banners.
In New Delhi, Foreign Minister Natwar Singh said he did not "want to give any false hopes" to the families of the hostages.
"It is a serious situation and has to be dealt with in a sensitive manner," Singh told reporters.
He said India so far had no contact with the abductors, who have threatened to execute the captives one by one if their employer does not pull out of Iraq.
Their employer, Kuwait and Gulf Link Transport, is likely to start ferrying goods only up to the border, transport sources said in Kuwait City.
©AAP 2004
Beats me, too. I just don't get it why they're doing it -- what sort of point are they trying to make? They're simply making things worse.