ALGIERS, April 9 (Reuters) – Algeria said on Monday it could
not confirm a report that seven of its diplomats abducted in
rebel-held northern Mali had been freed, and threatened to shut
its border crossings to stop the chaos there spilling over.
Algeria’s El Watan newspaper reported on Sunday that the
seven were freed, but Foreign Minister Mourad Medelci was quoted
by the official APS news agency as saying: “There is no
information regarding the release.”
The diplomats were abducted last week from the town of Gao,
part of a swathe of territory in northern Mali now under the
control of Tuareg-led separatists.
A spokesman for the separatists said an Islamist group with
ties to the separatists was behind the abduction.
The hostages are Algeria’s consul in Gao and six
consular staff, according to the Algerian foreign ministry.
The option of shutting its border with Mali was raised by
Interior Minister Daho Ould Kablia.
“Our borders are strictly controlled, but the possibility of
their closure is not excluded. We will work with the foreign
ministry to decide,” APS quoted Ould Kablia as saying.
Even if Algeria closes official border crossings, it is
unlikely it will be able to stop movement across the frontier,
which stretches for hundreds of kilometres (miles) through
inhospitable desert.
Tuareg separatists pushed Mali’s military out of the north
of the country over the past few weeks. Their offensive was
helped by weapons smuggled out of nearby Libya and by the
distraction caused by a military coup in Mali’s capital, Bamako.
(Reporting By Hamid Ould Ahmed; Editing by Karolina Tagaris)
