Free at last after eight months

 

An Austrian pair kidnapped in Tunisia in February have finally been freed. Wolfgang Ebner and Andrea Kloiber were released in Mali, where their kidnappers – allegedly an African Al Qaeda cell – had taken them shortly after they were seized. Authorities report the couple are in good health and are making their way back to their home country.

Rewarding desertion = fostering impunity?

 

The release of former FARC hostage Oscar Tulio Lizcano (pictured) earlier this week was not part of a dramatic rescue by Colombian military forces but the result of a former FARC rebel, Wilson Bueno, bringing the man to freedom. In return for his desertion, Bueno has been offered a new life in France, with a payout of $400,000 to ease his transition back into society. Last year, France proposed an offer of asylum and monetary reward to any FARC rebel who deserted and helped to secure hostages’ release.

 

The situation presents a challenging dilemma, one I too remain unsure about. On the one hand, finding ways to facilitate the desertion of FARC members – and to thereby increase the number of hostages who are released – is an important goal, both to decrease the likelihood of future hostage-taking and to promote an end to the conflict that has plagued Colombia for decades. On the other hand, offering relocation and financial incentives also does a disservice to the many who have suffered at the hands of FARC over the years.

 

My greatest concern is that the French government’s offer does nothing to counter a culture of impunity around kidnapping. It would be a great shame that this crime against humanity goes unpunished just to secure the safe release of a handful of people; it would be an even greater shame if Señor Lizcano himself received no compensation and redress for being the victim of a terrorist act while his captor is rewarded.

 

Death in captivity

 

A group of Chinese hostages in central Sudan have been killed by their captors. The oil workers were taken about a week ago: five were murdered and two escaped with injuries. There are conflicting reports about who was responsible for the kidnapping and killing, with the government of Sudan claiming it was a Darfur rebel group, with others saying it was a local clan. China is one of the biggest investors in Sudan, buying nearly two-thirds of the country’s oil. The Chinese government has condemned the killings.

Three generations of FARC – and news of freedom

 

This month, Vanity Fair features an in-depth look at Colombia’s hostage wars by author Maureen Orth. Orth – a former Peace Corps volunteer in the country in the 1960s – focuses in particular on several female former hostages, including Ingrid Betancourt, Clara Rojas and Gloria Polanco. The article provides an interesting but brief history of FARC and its relations with the Colombian drugs trade, as well as the way the government managed to carry out Operation Jaque this past July.

 

And today, word has just come in that the Colombian army has freed another hostage, former Congressman Oscar Tulio Lizcano. Welcome home, Oscar!

Herbin Hoyos, I honour you

 

This month, Colombia’s Simon Bolivar prize for Journalist of the Year was awarded to Herbin Hoyos Medina. Hoyos is the creator of Las Voces del Secuestro, a radio programme that allows the families of hostages to record messages that are broadcast to their loved ones. Himself once the victim of a kidnapping, Hoyos was chided by a fellow hostage that journalists did little to help the plight of those in captivity. The radio show was borne out of this and has been running for 14 years (and inspired the name of this blog). Hoyos offers “freedom hugs” to those who have been freed, doling out more than 11,000 since he started the programme.

 

Hoyos also has been awarded the National Peace Prize. Bravo, Señor, bravo! I can think of no one more deserving of such accolades.

Recent developments

 

–An American civilian who had been kidnapped in Afghanistan in August – and whose plight was never publicised – has been freed in a raid by U.S. special forces.

 

–Also in Afghanistan, a former presidential candidate has been taken hostage near his home in Kabul. Humayan Shah Asifi stood in the 2004 elections and was snatched at gunpoint in what some speculate is a kidnapping for ransom.

 

–The world’s most famous hostage, Ingrid Betancourt, plans to dedicate 2009 to writing a book about her six years in captivity in the Colombian jungle.

 

–Several young men have been taken hostage by armed men in separate incidents this week in Ingushetia, a province that many claim is the next powder keg ready to ignite the Caucasian region.

Paying ransoms, endangering lives

 

The British Channel 4 is being criticised for allegedly paying a ransom of £150,000 for the release of journalist Sean Langan, who was taken hostage earlier this year in southern Afghanistan and freed after three months in captivity. Members of Parliament subjected Channel 4’s chief executive, Andy Duncan, to intense questioning today, but Duncan has refused to answer whether a ransom was paid.

 

The MPs raised particular concern that, if the allegations were true, Channel 4 would be guilty of funding terrorism to the Taliban-linked hostage takers. Moreover, the payment of any ransom endangers the lives of other journalists working in conflict zones.

 

Previously, Langan had spoken about his ordeal to the Frontline Club blog.

 

More Chinese victims

 

Nine Chinese oil workers were taken hostage in central Sudan over the weekend. While the kidnappers could not yet be identified there is speculation that they are members of the same tribal group that seized four Indian workers earlier this year. China represents the biggest source of direct foreign investment in the Sudan.

Global hostage crisis help centre

 

Here’s a new, valuable resource targeted at assisting media personnel who find themselves in hostage situations: the International News Safety Institute has established an informal help line for news agencies and journalists to contact in the event one of their members is kidnapped. The service is not intended to provide resolution or negotiations during a hostage crisis, but rather connect individuals to resources that can assist them, be it security experts or just a sympathetic ear. The initiative is supported by several major media groups and the group includes experts who themselves have been kidnapped in the line of their profession.

A daring escape

 

One of two Chinese men kidnapped by the Taliban in Pakistan in late August has escaped from captivity and found his way to an army post. The Pakistani press issued a statement saying that the other hostage, who also tried to escape, was recaptured and injured during his bid to gain freedom. Meanwhile a Taliban spokesperson said that hostage-taking would continue to be an option until the security forces release more than 100 Taliban currently in detention.