Somalie : Les otages allemands en danger de mort
Les deux Allemands enlevés par des pirates voici un mois et détenus dans la brousse somalienne ont déclaré être malades, avoir très peu à manger et craindre pour leur vie, écrit mardi le magazine allemand Der Spiegel.
L’hebdomadaire rapporte que ses journalistes ont pu entrer en contact avec les deux otages allemands, Jürgen K. et Sabine M., par téléphone portable. Ils disent être détenus par une bande de 40 à 50 Somaliens qui exigent le versement d’une rançon en échange de leur libération. Les deux Allemands exhortent l’ambassade d’Allemagne à Mogadiscio à se mobiliser davantage pour obtenir leur libération. Jürgen K. explique dans les colonnes du magazine qu’ils voulaient se rendre en bateau en Thaïlande mais qu’ils ont été enlevés par des pirates au large du Yémen et conduits en Somalie en canot à moteur.
Il précise qu’ils sont tous les deux malades et ne peuvent pas prendre d’insuline, médicament contre le diabète, à cause du manque de seringues. Sa compagne, dit-il, a perdu 20 kilos et n’en pèse plus que 40 kg.
Germans taken by Somali pirates fear for their lives
Tue 22 Jul 2008, 18:19 GMT
BERLIN, July 22 (Reuters) - Two Germans kidnapped by Somali pirates a month ago and being held in the bush in the East African nation have said they are ill, have very little to eat and fear for their lives, a news magazine reported on Tuesday.
Der Spiegel magazine said it spoke to the man and woman, which it named as Juergen K. and Sabine M., by mobile telephone. It quoted them as saying they were being held in the bush by between 40 and 50 Somalis who were demanding a ransom.
They appealed to the German embassy to do more to secure their release, the magazine reported.
Juergen K. said they had wanted to sail to Thailand but had been seized off the coast of Yemen then taken to Somalia by speedboat, a trip of around two days, when the kidnappers realised there was not much of value on their yacht.
"We didn’t have a lot of money and so they didn’t find much," Sabine M. told Der Spiegel, which said it had managed to get through to the pair via an intermediary.
"But the kidnappers didn’t believe us," she added. "They wrapped a sail around Juergen’s neck and wanted to hang him. I put myself in the way and said they should shoot both of us."
Juergen K. said the pair were both ill and he was unable to take his diabetes insulin due to a lack of syringes. His partner now weighed just 40 kg (88 lbs) having lost 20 kg, he added.
"We have fever and severe diarrhoea," he said, adding that they were given only one or two slices of bread a day. Temperatures reached 47 degrees Celsius (117 degrees Fahrenheit) during the day and it was "bitterly cold" at night, he added.
He said he feared the kidnappers would simply shoot the hostages in the legs and leave them in the ant-infested bush, and that he had been beaten in the face with rifle butts.
Asked what help they hoped for, Juergen K. said : "That the public is informed and the embassy does more for us."
He said the kidnappers had not wanted to hold them for long and were impatient for their ransom money.
"They don’t like it that it’s taking so long," he said. "When we were talking by telephone to the embassy they shot over our heads."
An official said earlier on Tuesday that Somali pirates had seized a small yacht carrying a German family of three and a French captain and had held them since June 23.
"The child is said to have contracted malaria and the dad is diabetic and has no access to insulin," said Andrew Mwangura, director of the Seafarers Assistance Programme, in a statement.
It was not immediately clear whether the statement was referring to Juergen K. and Sabine M. (Reporting by Iain Rogers ; Editing by Catherine Evans)