Submit your comments on this article |
Africa: North |
Muammar coughs up Saifi |
2004-11-02 |
![]() Mr Gadafy received praise from Washington for handing over Saifi to the Algerian government. "This continues to show Libya's reintegration into world society and coming down on the side of law and order and the war on terrorism," a senior US military official told Reuters at the weekend. Saifi was reported to have been captured several months ago by a rebel, non-Islamist group from Chad, and it was unclear how he turned up in Libya last week. Press reports around the region have speculated either that Mr Gadafy threatened the Chad group with air attacks, or that he paid it for Saifi. Last year Saifi was reported to have extracted €5m (£3.5m) from the German government in return for the release of 32 tourists kidnapped while on adventure holidays in the Algerian Sahara. A German woman died of heatstroke in captivity and German authorities had put out an international search warrant for Saifi. |
Posted by:Dan Darling |