After reading an article from 1.11. in the DZ newspaper El Watan it seems that the kidnapping was more succesfull then I estimated. The risk of terrorist activity against tourists (but not limited to) in the whole central Sahara from Mauritania to Niger and Libya bigger then I mentioned above - and I seriously considder postphoning my trekking trip to DZ planed for this winter.
With the money from the ransom the group of 84 terrorists who once left Algeria to Mali is said to have grown to about 200 men, with their head quarter in the Gorges de Tekace abour 300km from Taoudeni (does anybody know this location?).
A link to the article and an international press abstract:
http://www.elwatan.com/journal/html/...1/sup_html.htm
"Al-Qaida is building secret bases in the Sahara in north Africa with the help of Algerian extremists, Western and Arab intelligence sources said Monday. The Spanish daily Periodico De Catalonia quoted the sources as saying the Sahara, stretching between Mauritania and southern Libya, has become a base for al-Qaida. "We know that many things were taking place in the Sahara which is under the loose control of the Algerian and Libyan armies and the armed forces of weak countries like Niger, Mauritania and Mali," a U.S. diplomat said."
Yves
[This message has been edited by Yves (edited 02 November 2003).]
[This message has been edited by Yves (edited 02 November 2003).]
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Yves
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