KHARTOUM: Kidnappers holding 11 European tourists and eight Egyptians moved from Sudan into Libya with their hostages yesterday, a Sudanese spokesman said.
The kidnappers seized the tourists — five Germans, five Italians and a Romanian — last week while they were on a desert safari through the far southwest of Egypt. They have been inside Sudan since at least Tuesday.
“The group moved toward the Libyan border and then crossed the border, and they are now 13 to 15 km inside Libya,” Ali Youssef Ahmed, head of protocol in the Sudanese Foreign Ministry, said.
The Sudanese government said Tuesday it had them surrounded at their encampment near Jebel Oweinat, a mountain near where the borders of Egypt, Sudan and Libya meet.
“The Libyan authorities have been informed. They are now following the progress of the group,” Ahmed said.
Egyptian officials have said the kidnappers were demanding a large ransom. One security source said they wanted 6 million euros ($8.8 million) to set the hostages free. The Sudanese government has indications the kidnappers may be from one of the many rebel groups active in the Darfur region of western Sudan, Ahmed said.
The indications include the language they speak and their route when they entered Sudan from Egypt. Most Darfuri rebels do not have Arabic as their first language.
