2003 Sahara hostage crisis

The Sahara hostage crisis concerns the events surrounding the 32 Europeans taken hostage in the Sahara desert in 2003. They were released in two groups: one from Algeria and the other from neighbouring Mali.

The kidnap

A group of European tourists—15 Germans (later stated as 16), 10 Austrians, 4 Swiss, a Dutchman and a Swede—went missing in February 2003 in the Sahara. They were last seen some distance from the Algeria/Libya border, an expanse of desert frequented by smugglers, drug runners and militant groups linked to Al-Qaeda. On 13 April Algerian military sources were quoted as stating that the tourists had been kidnapped but were still alive, but the identity of kidnappers and their demands were not known. The travellers had apparently been divided into two groups. A 1,200-strong force of Algerian army and police continued to comb the area using camel trains, road blocks and helicopters, assisted by a team of specialist officers from German anti-terrorist police. One of the Swiss tourists is said to have called relatives on his mobile phone after his disappearance, but was cut off in mid-sentence.

Ransom demands

There had been no official word of any ransom demand from their kidnappers, believed to be members of the Salafist Organisation for Prayer and Combat (known by the French acronym GSPC - Groupe Salafiste pour la Predication et le Combat), a militant Islamic group with links to Al-Qaeda. On 4 May the Algerian government admitted that it had been in talks for some weeks. Although the statement by tourism minister Lakhdar Dorbani did not say to whom officials were talking, it indirectly confirmed for the first time that the tourists had been kidnapped, rather than reiterating the government’s former line that they may have been lost. The German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer is reported to have held talks with the Algerian president on efforts to find the tourists.

Release of the first group

A group of 17 hostages was freed by force on 17 May. The Algerian Army said its men freed the group after a ‘brief gunfight’, but the Algerian newspaper al-Watan reported that they had been freed after a battle that left nine of the captors dead. It said the clash lasted several hours, with army units trading fire with about 10 armed guerrillas. The Army, using reconnaissance planes equipped with thermal vision gear, were said to have found the captives in two groups in the Amguid region north of the southern Algerian city of Tamanrasset. The Algerian Army said that the terrorists killed in the raid were members of the GSPC and they acknowledged the second group of 15 hostages still being held in the Tamelrik mountains, 90 miles north-east of Ilizi in eastern Algeria, were now at much greater risk. The German and Swiss governments expressed dismay at the use of force.

Release of the second group

There were no developments regarding the remaining 15 hostages for two months. At the end of July, Algeria’s President Abdelaziz Bouteflika said that he was prepared to allow the kidnappers out of the country if they freed the prisoners. Algeria had made contact with the kidnappers after using helicopters to drop leaflets over the area stating, ‘The authorities are ready to allow all the kidnappers to leave freely on the condition that the 15 hostages are liberated safe and well as soon as possible.’ A few days later the security forces were surprised to receive a reply saying that they were ‘ready to negotiate’ as long as their safety was guaranteed. It was speculated that the hostage-takers holding this group may have been unaware of the fate of the first group. After five months in captivity, the remaining group were released into Mali on 17 August. One German woman, Michaela Spitzer, had died from heatstroke, but the remainder of the hostages were alive.

Was a ransom paid?

It remains unclear whether or not a ransom was paid. The German government refused to be drawn on allegations of a ransom payment. Press reports said that a secret ransom of around €5 million had been paid to the kidnappers by the Malian government, on Germany’s behalf, to be repaid in the form of future development aid. It is now known that GSPC was in fact responsible for the kidnapping. The GSPC is one of two Islamic terrorist groups that have been fighting to topple Algeria's military-backed government in a brutal insurgency over many years that has cost 100,000 lives. GSPC subsequently joined Al-Qaeda and were responsible for the two car bombs in Algiers on 12 December 2007 aimed at the Supreme Court and the offices of the UN High Commission for Refugees.