Algerian diplomats kidnapped in Mali still missing Algiers – Sofiane Siyoucef Algerian Foreign Minister Mourad Medelci said on Monday that his country’s consul in Gao, north-eastern Mali, and his six assistants who were abducted on Thursday “are still deprived of their freedom,” despite earlier reports about their release" the minister said in a press statement following his meeting with Secretary-General of UNESCO Irina Bokova.
Regarding the kidnapping, the head of the Algerian diplomatic mission said:   “the government is committed to work with all the relevant sides to reach a solution to this issue,” pointing out that the foreign minister as a coordinator for this crisis is the only party entitled to “provide information,” adding that “upon reaching information of credibility, announcements will be made to the national and international public.”
The Algerian Interior Minister Daho Ould Kablia reported that the ministry had transferred the families of the kidnapped diplomats back to their homeland last Friday.
Speaking about the reasons behind the kidnapping, the minister told to a French-speaking newspaper that “the logic of these people is a special one, I don’t know why. It blames Algeria.” He explained that it is unlikely that the National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad be behind the abduction.
He did not rule out the probability of shutting the Algerian-Malian border, saying: “our border is subject to strict control, however the probability of shutting it is not ruled out.” He added: “We will be consulting with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to make a decision,” explaining that this decision has not been taking as there are Algerians as well as other foreigners who use the border.
Ould Kablia clarified that if the Islamists were the ones behind it, they would be “inciting clamour.”
The Algerian consulate in Gao was stormed last Thursday by a terrorist group, who took the Algerian consul and six of his associates to an unknown destination.