Algeria Negotiates Tourists' Freedom

After weeks of uncertainty and conflicting rumors, the Algerian government confirmed Sunday that the 31 European tourists who vanished in the Saharan desert over the past two months are being held hostage and that officials are in contact with the kidnappers.

The adventure holidaymakers, among them 15 Germans, ten Austrians, four Swiss, one Dutch national and one Swede, disappeared while traveling in seven separate groups. They were believed to be heading to the south of the country, an area rich in ancient grave sites -- but also populated by arms smugglers and drug traffickers.

According to radio reports broadcast in Algeria Monday, their release now seems imminent. "The tourist issue is about to be settled," a journalist from state radio reported from the southern city of Illizi."The tourists will return to their countries soon," he said, and explained that the hostages are thought to be held in two separate groups -- one in mountain caves near Illizi and the other near Tamanrasset, another southern city.

After Friday's first official confirmation that the foreigners are still alive since the initial group of tourists went missing in late February, the national parliament's tourism commission president, Mohamed Karout, told Algerian national radio that "contacts are under way to liberate the tourists", but declined to specify with whom the talks were being held.

Kidnappers' identity unknown

So far, it is unclear if the hostages are being held by a criminal gang or by Islamist rebel groups. The Algerian daily newspaper El Watan has quoted Algerian security officials as saying that a gang of bandits kidnapped the tourists in return for ransom, and that talks on securing their release have been underway for three weeks. The paper said the tourists had been located in the Tamelrik mountain range, some 1,500 kilometers south-east of Algiers.

But earlier reports speculated that the tourists had been kidnapped by the militant Islamic Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC), which has links to Osama Bin Laden's al-Qaeda network.

Germany's offer of further assistance rejected

Algeria has deployed thousands of soldiers in a major search for the tourists in the vast Sahara desert and the BKA, Germany's Office of Criminal Investigation, already has six officials in the area helping Algerian authorities. The German weekly newsmagazine Der Spiegel reported that German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder sent a letter last week to Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, asking him to do everything possible to secure the release of the tourists and offering further German help in the process.

The Berlin newspaper Tagesspiegel reports that the Algerian government maintains the matter is a domestic problem and rejects Germany's offer of additional special forces, which allegedly would have included the German anti-terrorist force GSG 9, an elite squad set up in 1973.