Kidnapped tourists still in Libya: Sudan (AFP)
31 minutes ago
KHARTOUM (AFP) - As a desert kidnap drama entered its second week, 11 European tourists and eight Egyptians are still being held in Libya by their captors, a leading Sudanese official said on Friday.
"The kidnappers took them across the Libyan frontier by vehicle. They are still there, according to our contacts," Ali Yousuf, head of protocol at the Sudanese foreign ministry, told AFP.
Taken hostage on September 19 in a desert area of southwest Egypt during a safari in off-road vehicles, the 19 hostages were first moved to Sudan by their kidnappers, whose nationality is unknown.
Sudan said on Thursday that the group had been transferred to Libya, around 13 to 15 kilometres (eight to nine miles) from the border in the Jebel Uweinat region, a 1,900-metre-high (6,200-foot-high) plateau roughly 30 kilometres (20 miles) in diameter near where Sudan, Egypt and Libya meet.
Since this report, confirmed by Egypt, the Libyan authorities have refused to comment.
"They are still in Libya. We have no other news," an Egyptian security official told AFP on condition of anonymity.
Yousuf said: "All is well" with the hostages. "We are watching the region closely and Sudan is doing everything possible to help the efforts to ensure their liberation," he said.
The hostages are 11 tourists -- five Italians, five Germans, and one Romanian -- plus eight Egyptians -- two guides, four drivers, a border guard and the organiser of the safari.
The kidnappers have demanded that Germany take charge of payment of a six-million-euro (8.8-million-dollar) ransom, an Egyptian security official told AFP on Thursday.
Egypt locating Karak Talh. As a desert kidnap drama entered its second week, 11 European tourists and eight Egyptians are still being held in Libya by their captors, a leading Sudanese official said on Friday.(AFP/Graphic)" class="newsimage" />