Mediator holds "serious" negotiations with kidnappers of 15 Europeans

The Tuareg tribal leader appointed by the Malian government to negotiate the release of 15 European tourists held by armed Islamic militants has returned to the capital Bamako for consultations after opening "serious" negotiations with their kidnappers, a military source said on Thursday. The source said Iyad Ag Agaly, a former leader of Tuareg rebels in the north of Mali, had held meetings this week with President Amadou Toumani Toure and German and Swiss diplomats following his return from the desert area near the Algerian border where the hostages were being held. Another source in the northeastern town of Kidal, said the kidnappers had been seen near Tessalit, the last settlement in Mali on the main road that runs north into Algeria, on Saturday. There, they acquired fresh supplies of food and petrol, he added. The kidnappers, from an Islamic extremist organisation called the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat, captured the 10 Germans, four Swiss and one Dutchman in southern Algeria in February and March. They crossed over into Mali towards the end of last month. The Malian government has been reluctant to talk publicly about measures under way to secure the hostages'released, although President Toure has pledged to resolve the situation peacefully. The Bamako daily newspaper l'Independant said on Thursday that the kidnappers have demanded a ransom of 55 billion CFA (US $95 million) for the release of the hostages, some of whom are said to be in poor health. A diplomatic source in Bamako said the German government had asked Mali to negotiate and arrange the payment of a ransom to secure their release. One unconfirmed media report said that one of the hostages, Michaela Spitzer, a 45-year-old German woman, had recently died from heat and exhaustion. According to the French news agency AFP, the kidnappers are led by a former Algerian soldier, Abderrezak Amari. Seventeen other European tourists kidnapped by the same group in southern Algeria were released to the Algerian authorities in June in circumstances that have never been made clear. Ag Agaly played a prominent role in a Tuareg rebellion in northern Mali from 1990 to 1996. He was chosen by the Malian government as a mediator because of his people's close family, cultural and trade links with the Algerian tribesmen who kidnapped the hostages on the other side of the remote and lawless border.