Mali battle hinders hostage effort, deadline nears
BAMAKO (Reuters) - Fighting between Mali's army and rebel Tuareg nomads is complicating efforts to free two Austrian tourists held hostage deep in the Sahara, but Austria said a midnight Sunday deadline appeared to have been extended.
Algerian-based al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb says it seized the pair who went missing in Tunisia last month.
"From the many contacts ... it emerges that there is more time for our efforts beyond the original deadline," an Austrian foreign ministry spokesman said. He referred to efforts in Vienna and in the region but declined to give details.
The ultimatum had already been extended by a week from last Sunday.
In Algiers, security sources said the deadline had been extended by three days to facilitate payment of a ransom.
On Islamist websites the group has demanded freedom for 10 militants held in Algeria and Tunisia for releasing the pair.
Austrian diplomats have spent a week in Mali trying to secure the release of Andrea Kloiber, 43, and Wolfgang Ebner, 51, thought to be at an Islamist hideout in the Kidal region of remote northern Mali near the Algerian and Niger borders .
The Al Qaeda group has issued a vague threat to kill them if their demands are not met by the deadline, but security specialists say they are unlikely to carry it out as it would end any possibility of securing a cash ransom.
Adding to the confusion, a prominent Austrian politician said Saif al-Islam, son of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, was involved in negotiations, but the Gaddafi Foundation, which Saif al-Islam heads, denied this.
However, a Malian ministry source said the government suspected the hostages may in any case have been moved off Malian soil after fighting between government forces and Tuareg rebels who ambushed an army convoy in Kidal region on Thursday.
The attack near Tin-Zaouatene on the Algerian border appears to have been unrelated to the hostage situation, but details reaching the capital Bamako suggest an escalation of a revolt by Tuareg fighters of rebel chief Ibrahima Bahanga.
Government military sources said the rebels had taken some 29 soldiers including an officer, and many were lightly injured.
MORE SHOOTING
Three soldiers had been killed and several vehicles lost, some to landmine blasts and some taken by the rebels.
Volleys of shots were exchanged in the area again late on Saturday, but there were no details of casualties. The army was trying to seal roads leading to the border to prevent the rebels taking the captured soldiers abroad, a military source said.
The sources said the army had decided not to send large numbers of troops from Kidal to assist the convoy near Tin-Zaouatene after Tuaregs loyal to Bahanga paraded on Saturday in Kidal town in an implicit show of force.
The hostilities complicate Mali's efforts to assist the hostage negotiations. Authorities had appealed to Tuareg leaders in the Kidal region who could act as go-betweens or mediators.
Al Qaeda has warned that any attempt to launch a military operation to free the captives could result in their death.
(For full Reuters Africa coverage and to have your say on the top issues, visit: africa.reuters.com)
(Additional reporting by Paul Bolding in Vienna, Alistair Thomson in Dakar, Salah Sarrar in Tripoli and Lamine Chikhi in Algiers,; writing by Alistair Thomson and Paul Bolding, edited by Richard Meares)
