Romanians Killed in the Algerian Crisis

Dozens of foreign employees, including two Romanians, have died in the hostage crisis in a natural gas complex in Algeria. The bodies of the two Romanians have been repatriated.

Daniela Budu, 22.01.2013, 13:49

The bodies of the two Romanians who died during the Algerian hostage crisis, have been brought home by a military aircraft. A few dozen more foreign employees of the oil and gas complex have lost their lives. About 700 Algerian workers and about 100 foreign ones, including 3 Romanians, have managed to get away or have been rescued by the Algerian armed forces. President Traian Basescu said that terrorism had reached the EU’s southern frontier, and said that the Romanian authorities could not leave the incidents in Algeria without a response, which will come after the hostage crisis has been evaluated.

Traian Basescu: “The events in Algeria have confirmed once again that strong terrorist groups are capable of killing our citizens, and therefore we have to ask ourselves: how do we defend our citizens? We cannot brush over the events in Algeria without asking ourselves this question. When they go abroad to work for our companies, they leave with the feeling that their state will defend them.”

Prime Minister Victor Ponta said that the activity of the crisis task group set up to manage the situation in Algeria was blameless. He avoided the issue of how communications occurred with the Algerian side. Here is Prime Minister Victor Ponta:

Victor Ponta: “The crisis task group did its duty, as far as I’m concerned. As for the rest, what happened in the field has nothing to do with the Romanian authorities, just as it has nothing to do with the authorities of our European partners. The intervention belonged to the Algerian authorities.”

After the parliamentary foreign policy committees had held hearings with Foreign Minister Titus Corlatean on the management of the Algerian crisis, they also agreed that the crisis task group had done its duty. The Foreign Ministry expressed dissatisfaction at the lack of cooperation from the Algerian authorities in the crisis. Foreign Minister Titus Corlatean said he regretted that the Algerian side had not informed him on time that the second Romanian, who died in hospital, was seriously injured. The Algerian ambassador to Bucharest said there was no error of communication on the side of the authorities in his country as regards Romanian hostages.

Habib Hamraoui: “The army was forced to step in at the right moment to set free Algerian and foreign persons and in order not to set a precedent in terms of negotiating with terrorists. I express my condolences and Algeria’s clear-cut position. There will be no negotiations with terrorists, and the fight against terrorism will be implacable.”

The terrorist action at the oil and gas complex has been claimed by a group tied to Al-Qaida, and was undertaken in retaliation to the French military offensive on Islamist strongholds in Mali, Algeria’s neighbor.