Questa mi sembra una buona notizia
http://www.news24.com/News24/Africa/News/0,,2-11-1447_1349150,00.html 11 missing tourists 'found'
17/04/2003 13:59 - (SA)
Vienna - Algerian authorities have located 11 of 31 tourists missing in the Sahara desert and have opened talks with the kidnappers, reports the Austrian weekly, Profil.
"Bedouins are said to have seen the kidnappers and 11 hostages striking camp," Profil reports from Algeria.
"Algerian authorities have not used the word hostage-takers to decribe the kidnappers, in order to be able to open negotiations," says Profil, adding that talks had already started.
Fifteen Germans, 10 Austrians, four Swiss, a Dutchman and a Swede are missing in an area of the Sahara frequented by smugglers, drug-runners and a militant group linked to Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda network.
Some have not been heard of since February.
Profil said the talks were being handled at senior level because of the international attention now focused on Algeria.
It said the German hostages were being held separately - possibly an indication that Germany was the target of the attack, which could aim at freeing four Algerian extremists jailed there.
The missing tourists had been travelling in six separate groups without guides.
They vanished in southern Algeria's vast desert.
On Monday, the Austrian diplomat in charge of finding his missing nationals said they had not necessarily been kidnapped, while the Dutch foreign ministry confirmed that the missing Dutchman had been taken hostage.