Algeria seeks to end ransom payments to terrorists

2009-11-09

Algeria will take its fight against paying ransoms to terrorists to the global level by introducing a UN resolution.

By Fidet Mansour for Magharebia in Algiers – 09/11/09

[Fayez Nureldine/AFP/Getty Images] Algeria’s minister of Maghreb and African affairs, Abdelkader Messahel, has said ransom-paying to terrorists must end.

Algeria is determined to halt the practice of paying ransoms to terrorist groups, and will introduce a draft resolution in the UN Security Council to ban this practice.

"The US, the UK and Russia support this move," said Algerian presidential advisor Rezag Bara on Saturday (October 31st).

Many analysts say that ransom payments to terrorist groups are becoming a very serious security issue. According to the national daily el-Khabar, some Western countries have paid ransoms totalling 10 million euros to secure the release of their kidnapped citizens by al-Qaeda terrorist groups.

Salime Amine, an academic who specialises in security issues, is concerned about the increasing number of terrorists demanding ransoms. "[Terrorists] are using ransom demands more and more, because they’ve seen that some countries give in to this kind of pressure," he said. "Faced with measures introduced by the various governments, which make it very difficult and sometimes impossible to transfer money to the terrorists, they have resorted to hostage-taking."

Algerian terrorist groups have stepped up their kidnapping attempts in recent months, mainly in Kabylie and the wilaya of Tizi Ouzou. Victims usually hail from wealthy families that can afford to pay steep ransoms. The most recent hostage situation occurred on October 30th, when members of al-Qaeda's El Ansar brigade kidnapped a business owner from his workplace in Tigzirt, Tizi Ouzou province.

Although the terrorists demanded money for the hostage's release, villagers and his family refused to give in. After being denied payment, the terrorists released the victim two days later following negotiations with the local imam, demonstrating that ransom payments are not the only means to secure the release of hostages.

Algeria has also taken its anti-ransom campaign to its African neighbours. Algerian diplomats threw their full support behind a regional meeting in July, in the hopes of encouraging other African countries to adopt a similar position regarding terrorists' demands.

"We feel that financing for terrorist activities is largely provided by the money that is collected in these operations," Minister for Maghreb and African Affairs Abdelkader Messahel said at the 15th Non-Aligned Movement Summit in Sharm el-Sheikh.