PARIS: Swiss giant Nestle has become the latest food company hit by Europe's horsemeat scandal, withdrawing two types of pasta meal from supermarket shelves in Italy and Spain due to contamination.The news came Monday as German discount chain Lidl pulled ready-made meals from the shelves of its Finnish, Danish, Swedish and Belgian stores as it also confirmed the presence of horsemeat.
Meanwhile the French firm that sparked the Europe-wide food alert, by allegedly passing off 750 tonnes of horsemeat as beef, was allowed to resume production of minced meat, sausages and ready-to-eat meals.
But Spanghero, whose horsemeat found its way into 4.5 million "beef" products sold across Europe, will no longer be allowed to stock frozen meat, France's Agriculture Minister Stephane Le Foll told AFP.
Nestle, the world's biggest food company, said in a statement that "our tests have found traces of horse DNA in two products," while assuring that there was no public health risk.
"The mislabeling of products means they fail to meet the very high standards consumers expect from us," it added. Therefore the company is voluntarily removing two chilled pasta products, Buitoni Beef Ravioli and Beef Tortellini, from sale in Italy and Spain immediately.
Nestle announced it was also suspending deliveries of all products using beef supplied by German firm HJ Schypke, a subcontractor of JBS Toledo.
A Nestle frozen meat product for catering businesses, produced in France, will also be withdrawn from sale.
Nestle apologised to consumers while assuring that actions being taken to deal with this issue will result in higher standards and enhanced traceability.
Earlier Monday German discount chain Lidl pulled ready-made meals from the shelves of its Finnish, Danish, Swedish and Belgian stores after tests confirmed the presence of horsemeat.
Lidl said last week it had found traces of horse in beef goulash and a tortellini bolognese product sold by its Austrian subsidiary.
Concerns about horsemeat first emerged in mid-January when Irish authorities found traces of horse in beefburgers made by firms in Ireland and Britain and sold in supermarket chains including Tesco and Aldi.
The scandal then intensified when French firm Comigel alerted Findus this month to the presence of horsemeat in the meals it had made for the food giant and which were on sale in Britain.
Since then, supermarket chains have removed millions of "beef" products as tests are carried out to detect horsemeat, which is eaten in many European countries but is considered taboo in Britain and others.
Horsemeat in "beef" ready-to-eat meals had already been confirmed in products found in Britain, Ireland, France, Austria, Norway, the Netherlands and Germany.
With Italy, Spain and Belgium now also tainted by the horsemeat scandal it appears that most of the continent has been affected.
France's DGCCRF anti-fraud office concluded after an initial inquiry that 500 tonnes of Spanghero horsemeat were sent to Comigel, whose frozen meals were sold to 28 companies in 13 European states.
Spanghero's sanitary licence was suspended last Thursday after it was accused of passing off huge quantities of mislabelled meat over a period of six months.
Spanghero on Friday again insisted it was not responsible for the mislabelling that has seen supermarket chains across the continent pull millions of suspect food products from their shelves.
"I don't know who is behind this, but it is not us," said Spanghero boss Barthelemy Aguerre, adding that the accusations were putting his 300 workers' jobs on the line. "I will prove our innocence."
Union leaders at Spanghero had warned that revoking its licence would put the company out of business.
The European Union, seeking to reassure nervous consumers that their food is safe and to end the horsemeat scandal, on Friday agreed the immediate launch of tests for horse DNA in meat products.
All parties have stressed that this is a food labelling issue, not a health issue.
Germany said Monday it planned to tighten checks and sanctions on food production under an action plan to counter the scandal.
Norway
Nestle pulls out meals in Italy & Spain as horsemeat scandal grows
World's biggest food firms embroiled in horsemeat scandal
World’s biggest food firms embroiled in horsemeat scandal
PARIS: The world’s biggest food company, Swiss-based Nestle, and the world’s top beef producer, JBS of Brazil, were Tuesday the latest in a long list of firms to be caught up in Europe’s spiralling horsemeat scandal.
Their involvement in the fast-moving drama marked another milestone in a scandal that has seen supermarket chains across Europe pull from their shelves millions of “beef” products that are thought to contain horsemeat.
Nestle announced it was removing two ready-to-eat meals — beef ravioli and beef tortellini — from supermarket shelves in Italy and Spain after tests found traces of horse DNA in the products.
A Nestle frozen lasagne product made for the catering business was also being withdrawn from sale in France and Portugal because traces of horsemeat were found in them.
The firm insisted there was no food safety issue but said the tainted products breached the one per cent threshold the British Food Safety Agency uses to indicate likely adulteration or gross negligence.
The horse DNA was found in products made with meat supplied by German firm H.J. Schypke, Nestle said in a statement late Monday.
JBS of Brazil, which used H.J. Schypke as a subcontractor, meanwhile said in a statement that it would stop buying European meat until confidence is restored in the European beef supply chain.
It sought to distance itself from the scandal, saying Schypke was “not in any way part of the JBS Group” and adding that “no case of co-mingling of species has been identified in products produced in or at JBS factories.”
Schypke on Tuesday denied any wrongdoing.
“We buy all raw materials already chopped up, fresh or frozen, from certified suppliers. … We would like to point out expressly that H.J. Schypke has at no time purchased horsemeat,” it said.
The firm said it greatly regretted the current case and vowed to carry out genetic tests on raw meat in future.
German authorities meanwhile announced on Tuesday that 24 out of 360 official tests carried out on meat had revealed traces of horsemeat.
“It’s too early to assign blame unilaterally… the authorities are working in the federal states to work out who should take responsibility,” consumer affairs ministry spokesman Holger Eichele told reporters.
But he said the authorities would eventually be able to tell who were the main culprits and co-culprits once the tests of ready meals and inspections of slaughterhouses and food production centres were complete.
On Monday, German discount chain Lidl pulled ready-made meals from the shelves of its Finnish, Danish, Swedish and Belgian stores as it also confirmed the presence of horsemeat.
The French firm that sparked the Europe-wide food alert, by allegedly passing off 750 tonnes of horsemeat as beef, was on Monday allowed to resume production of minced meat, sausages and ready-to-eat meals.
But Spanghero, whose horsemeat found its way into 4.5 million “beef” products sold across Europe, will no longer be allowed to stock frozen meat, officials said.
Upholding that ban means it cannot act as middleman between slaughterhouses and food-processing companies, the situation which allegedly allowed it to change labels on horsemeat from Romania and sell it on as beef.
The firm’s sanitary licence was suspended last Thursday after it was accused of passing off huge quantities of mislabelled meat over a period of six months.
On Tuesday, a source close to the investigation told AFP that authorities had raided Spanghero’s headquarters in southern France.
“The judicial phase began this afternoon with investigations, searches and on-site interviews,” the source said.
A union representative said investigators spoke to four employees.
Concerns about horsemeat first emerged in mid-January when Irish authorities found traces of horse in beefburgers made by firms in Ireland and Britain and sold in supermarket chains including Tesco and Aldi.
The scandal then intensified when French firm Comigel alerted Findus earlier this month to the presence of horsemeat in the meals it had made for the food giant and which were on sale in Britain.
Since then, supermarket chains have removed millions of “beef” products as tests are carried out to detect horsemeat, which is eaten in many European countries but considered taboo in Britain.
Horsemeat in “beef” dishes has now been confirmed in products found in Britain, Ireland, France, Austria, Norway, The Netherlands, Germany, Italy, Spain, Portugal and Belgium.
Source: MOLE
What would we have been, if not for UMNO/BN?
What would we have been, if not for UMNO/BN?
KUALA LUMPUR: An email from Celestine Ho provided an insightful piece which among others pointed out how some postings in cyberspace that “fly in the face of the truth” which needed to be re-visited. And she chose to re-visit one that was written by lawyer and activist Haris Ibrahim.
The following is Celestine Ho’s piece:
“To wade through today’s murky political waters, it is important for voters to possess the appropriate tools to separate fact from fiction and make the correct conclusions.
In the light of this need, it is necessary to revisit some of the postings on cyberspace that fly in the face of the truth. One such piece was written by lawyer and activist Haris Ibrahim headlined:
“A glimpse of what might have been but for UMNO/BN,Mahathir, Pak Lah, and … Najib”.
He implied that Malaysia could have become as ‘successful’ as Singapore but for…
It is however more appropriate to ask the question:
“What would we have been, if not for UMNO/BN, Mahathir, Pak Lah, and …Najib”
In his blog posted on 29 September 2012, Haris drew conclusions based largely on what former Singapore Premier Lee Kuan Yew had said in an interview with the New York Times in 2010. Haris asks what was it that Singapore had done right, and what was it that Malaysia had done wrong these past few decades.
Haris illustrated his article by showing pictures that ostensibly showed Singapore’s transformation from a riverine village to a modern metropolis, the implication being that Malaysia has remained in the backwaters since independence.
Haris said LKY was quoted as having made the following statements (shown in italics):
LKY: “I think if the Tunku ( Malaysia’s first Prime Minister) had kept us together, what we did in Singapore, had Malaysia accepted a multiracial base for their society, much of what we’ve achieved in Singapore would be achieved in Malaysia.”
The fact however is that LKY cannot take all the credit for Singapore’s economic success. Thanks to the colonial powers, Singapore was already a thriving entrepot trading post in the early 19th century–long before the PAP came into power. Malaysia, on the other hand, started almost from ground zero. At independence it was considered by foreigners as a basket case, with the same chance of success as the poorest of the global poor. Malaysia’s economic success was therefore also spectacular. (See below)
LKY: “We made quite sure whatever your race, language or religion, you are an equal citizen and we’ll drum that into the people and I think our Chinese understand and today we have an integrated society. Our Malays are English-educated; they’re no longer like the Malays in Malaysia and you can see there are some still wearing headscarves but very modern looking.”
Well, not quite true. Ask the Singaporean Malay and he will tell you :
• that there is discrimination in the award of scholarships. Last year (and for several years in succession) there was not a single Malay (or Indian) successful candidate among the list of local scholarship recipients.
• that there is discrimination in the private sector. Advertisements for positions today simply state “Must be conversant in Mandarin” or “Must be effectively bilingual” as an essential requirement. This effectively cuts out Malays and Indians.
• that the Chinese community has been the largest beneficiaries of all of the government’s economic policies.
• that there are elite Chinese only schools and co-ed Special Assistance Plans (SAP) schools where the Chinese outnumber the minority races by a massive ratio. Prestigious scholarships are virtually dished out to them annually by the private and public sectors.
• that questions are being asked why many Malays are ‘exempted’ from serving national service.
• that Chinese is the language that is spoken as the native tongue by the greatest number of Singaporeans. Malay was only chosen as the “national language” by the Singaporean government after independence from Britain in the 1960s to avoid friction with Singapore’s neighbours.
• Social integration is far from smooth on the ground. To some locals, newcomers — particularly Mainland Chinese — are commonly seen as uncouth and prone to objectionable behaviors. Similarly, South Asian construction workers and Filipino domestic workers have also been singled out as targets of public. A spate of online disputes in 2011 involving Mainland Chinese immigrants ridiculing Singaporeans as “ungracious,” “disgusting and inferior” reveals the extent of social discord. In August 2011, an immigrant family from China went so far as to lodge a complaint against their Singaporean-Indian neighbors for the smell of curry emanating from their cooking. In response, a Facebook page urging Singaporeans to prepare curry on a designated Sunday drew over 57,600 supporters.
• why is it that Singaporeans are not trusted to provide security services to LKY and the subsequent Prime Ministers at 38 Oxley Road? That job, for the last 50 years, had been outsourced to Nepali Gurkha soldiers.
Another, more subtle, difference between Malaysia and Singapore is this: Singapore believes in a foreigners first, locals second policy. That is why Singapore is haven to the super rich of the world. Forty per cent of Singapore residents are foreigners. The local Singaporeans are beginning to resent their presence because they are partly the reason for the high cost of living.
LKY: “Malaysia took the different line. Malay is the language of the schools although it does not get them into modern knowledge. So the Chinese build and find their own independent schools to teach Chinese, the Tamils create their own Tamil schools, which do not get them jobs. It’s a most unhappy situation”.
That is a jaundiced view, not supported by the facts:
A recent scholarly article by A. Abhayaratne of the University of Peradeniya in Sri Lanka said the following:
“In the East and Southeast region, Malaysia stands out as one of the most outstanding economies in terms of the rate of economic growth and poverty reduction. During the last three decades, the annual growth of gross domestic product was higher than 6 percent except during the recession in 1985-86 and the financial crisis in 1997. This is a very impressive rate of growth by developing country standard. Consistent with the high growth rates during the period, per capita income increased from US$ 900 in 1970 to US$ 3400 in 2000 (Bank Negara Malaysia, 2000). Per capita income in Malaysia in 2000 was second highest in Southeast Asia and considerably higher than that of other countries of the region.
“During the same period, the Malaysian economy experienced a dramatic reduction in the incidence of poverty. Poverty incidence in Malaysia fell from 52.4% in 1970 to 5.5% in 2000. There was also considerable progress in reducing hard-core poverty as well to only 0.5% by 2000. The reduction in poverty was accompanied by rising living standards with a relatively equal distribution of income.
“It has been suggested by a number of studies that the large reductions in poverty incidence in Malaysia was the result of the high growth achieved by the economy. Some other studies suggest that this success in poverty reduction has not been a result of growth alone. They claim that this success was unlikely without the relentless efforts of the government in including poverty eradication as a major development objective and formulating specific policies and programs aiming at eradicating poverty.”
LKY: “We are non-corrupt. We lead modest lives”.
Sure. If other political leaders are also paid like Singapore politicians (the Prime Minister is paid US$1.7 million per year and the Cabinet Ministers also similarly high salaries), perhaps there will be little or no corruption.
Haris then quoted a report by The Wall Street Journal that said Singapore was “the wealthiest nation in the world by GDP per capita, beating out Norway, the U.S., Hong Kong and Switzerland.
But that doesn’t say much about the quality of life of the Singaporeans. Every weekend, thousands of islanders cross the Causeway into Johor Bharu, and travel as far inland as Malacca for a taste of the good life.
Consider these:
• Four out of five Singaporeans live in cramped high-rise HDB flats.
• More and more Singaporeans are packing up their bags and moving abroad. As of June 2011, an estimated 192,300 Singaporeans live abroad. An average of about 1,200 highly educated Singaporeans (including 300 naturalized citizens) give up their citizenship each year in favor of others.
• In some social surveys among Singaporean youth, more than half of those surveyed would leave the country to build their careers if given the chance.
• A recent report by the Economist Intelligence Unit said that Singapore was the sixth most expensive city in the world. By comparison, Kuala Lumpur ranked 62nd out of 79 surveyed. The cost of living in Singapore is 200% or 300% higher than in Malaysia. There are also other exorbitant costs in Singapore like the S$80,000 license to own a car.
And consider these too:
• KL is world’s 10th top destination city
• KL is 5th Best Value International City: Trip Index 2012
• Malaysia dubbed 14th most competitive economy
• Malaysia is 9th hottest real estate market in the world
• Malaysia ranked 5th in the best international cities category, outranking Singapore• KL is Asia’s most attractive property investment market.
What indeed would we have done without UMNO/BN, and Tun Mahathir Mohamad, Tun Abdullah Badawi and Dato’ Seri Najib Tun Razak.”
Source: MOLE
Press freedom index: Does it matter?
Press freedom index: Does it matter?
I read with a healthy dose of incredulity about how Malaysia had dropped 23 places to 145th out of 179 countries in the press freedom index (Poorer showing, The Sun, 31 January 2013).
The Press Freedom Index is an annual ranking of countries compiled and published by Reporters Without Borders (RWB) based upon the organization’s assessment of the countries’ press freedom records in the previous year. By RBW’s own admission,the index only deals with press freedom and does not measure the quality of journalism. The survey asks questions about direct attacks on journalists and the media as well as other indirect sources of pressure against the free press.
What is the purpose of this sort of ranking? Is it to shame regimes, to be more open? Is it to show that press freedoms make for a more informed citizenry? If so, how does one explain the fact that despite very poor ratings in Egypt, Libya and Tunisia (whose rankings in 2012 were 166, 134, and unrated), thousands of ‘information starved’ people took to the streets and overthrew the oppressive regimes?
The answer thus lies with the social media–facebook, twitter, blogs. So perhaps RBW should look at the freedoms enjoyed by the social media in Malaysia. It will then come as no surprise to RBW that Malaysia has one of the most robust social media freedoms in the world.
In the social media, anything and everything goes. In fact, the social media should now be reclassified as the mainstream media. The traditional print media is fast losing its currency, if circulation figures are anything to go by. This is not only true to Malaysia. It is a worldwide phenomenon.
The RBW report is also deficient in other respects. It said that Malaysia’s rating in 2013 was ‘the worst ever’. This is stretching the truth too far. There is far, far more freedom now than Malaysia had when it was in the throes of an emergency, fighting a guerrilla war with insurgents. That necessitated the control of information to prevent it from falling into the hands of the enemy. In any case, RBW can only make comparison from 2002 when it first introduced the press freedom survey.
Since then, and especially in the last few years, there has been much relaxation of restrictive legislation in Malaysia. The Printing Presses Act has been modified, and more licences have been issued for newspapers. There is thus today a level of freedom never before seen in Malaysia.
Let’s examine the RBW 2013 report a little more closely. It justified its rating by two ‘observations’. First, it said: “Malaysia has fallen to its lowest-ever position because access to information is becoming more and more limited”.
Second, two massive protests in Malaysia had “seen heavy media crackdown from authorities leading up to, and after, the protests.” It added that allegations of police brutality against media personnel on duty also surfaced after the Bersih 3.0 protest in April 2012.
Obviously, RWB had relied on testimonies during the Bersih inquiry. The Bersih inquiry had only recently completed its work and its report is not published. It is risky therefore to take uncorroborated evidence as the truth. Let the report be published, and then comment.
If Malaysia is bent on cracking down on freedoms, as is implied, then how does one explain the many public inquiries that the current government had instituted over the past few years? There were inquiries into a long list of issues, including allegations of human rights violations, deaths in custody, excessive use of force, and judicial misconduct.
Again, if press freedoms are the ultimate barometer of the level of democracy in a country and consequently of the people’s standard of living, can RWB explain the following?
India (the world’s largest democracy) scored 140.
On the other hand, Finland, Netherlands and Norway scored first, second and third. But these are not the countries of choice for Malaysians wishing to migrate to greener pastures. Instead, the choice countries for Malaysians are Australia (score 26), UK (29), USA (32) and Singapore (149),
Conclusion: Press freedoms and the people’s welfare are not entirely co-related.
Source: MOLE
Press freedom index: Does it matter?
Press freedom index: Does it matter?
I read with a healthy dose of incredulity about how Malaysia had dropped 23 places to 145th out of 179 countries in the press freedom index (Poorer showing, The Sun, 31 January 2013).
The Press Freedom Index is an annual ranking of countries compiled and published by Reporters Without Borders (RWB) based upon the organization’s assessment of the countries’ press freedom records in the previous year. By RBW’s own admission,the index only deals with press freedom and does not measure the quality of journalism. The survey asks questions about direct attacks on journalists and the media as well as other indirect sources of pressure against the free press.
What is the purpose of this sort of ranking? Is it to shame regimes, to be more open? Is it to show that press freedoms make for a more informed citizenry? If so, how does one explain the fact that despite very poor ratings in Egypt, Libya and Tunisia (whose rankings in 2012 were 166, 134, and unrated), thousands of ‘information starved’ people took to the streets and overthrew the oppressive regimes?
The answer thus lies with the social media–facebook, twitter, blogs. So perhaps RBW should look at the freedoms enjoyed by the social media in Malaysia. It will then come as no surprise to RBW that Malaysia has one of the most robust social media freedoms in the world.
In the social media, anything and everything goes. In fact, the social media should now be reclassified as the mainstream media. The traditional print media is fast losing its currency, if circulation figures are anything to go by. This is not only true to Malaysia. It is a worldwide phenomenon.
The RBW report is also deficient in other respects. It said that Malaysia’s rating in 2013 was ‘the worst ever’. This is stretching the truth too far. There is far, far more freedom now than Malaysia had when it was in the throes of an emergency, fighting a guerrilla war with insurgents. That necessitated the control of information to prevent it from falling into the hands of the enemy. In any case, RBW can only make comparison from 2002 when it first introduced the press freedom survey.
Since then, and especially in the last few years, there has been much relaxation of restrictive legislation in Malaysia. The Printing Presses Act has been modified, and more licences have been issued for newspapers. There is thus today a level of freedom never before seen in Malaysia.
Let’s examine the RBW 2013 report a little more closely. It justified its rating by two ‘observations’. First, it said: “Malaysia has fallen to its lowest-ever position because access to information is becoming more and more limited”.
Second, two massive protests in Malaysia had “seen heavy media crackdown from authorities leading up to, and after, the protests.” It added that allegations of police brutality against media personnel on duty also surfaced after the Bersih 3.0 protest in April 2012.
Obviously, RWB had relied on testimonies during the Bersih inquiry. The Bersih inquiry had only recently completed its work and its report is not published. It is risky therefore to take uncorroborated evidence as the truth. Let the report be published, and then comment.
If Malaysia is bent on cracking down on freedoms, as is implied, then how does one explain the many public inquiries that the current government had instituted over the past few years? There were inquiries into a long list of issues, including allegations of human rights violations, deaths in custody, excessive use of force, and judicial misconduct.
Again, if press freedoms are the ultimate barometer of the level of democracy in a country and consequently of the people’s standard of living, can RWB explain the following?
India (the world’s largest democracy) scored 140.
On the other hand, Finland, Netherlands and Norway scored first, second and third. But these are not the countries of choice for Malaysians wishing to migrate to greener pastures. Instead, the choice countries for Malaysians are Australia (score 26), UK (29), USA (32) and Singapore (149),
Conclusion: Press freedoms and the people’s welfare are not entirely co-related.
Source: MOLE
Thirty-seven foreigners killed in Algerian gas plant siege
Thirty-seven foreigners killed in Algerian gas plant siege
ALGIERS: Thirty-seven foreigners of eight nationalities, as well as an Algerian, were killed by hostage-takers in a well-planned attack on a remote gas plant, some of them brutally executed.
Algerian Prime Minister Abdelmalek Sellal said five other foreigners were still missing and that some of the hostages had been executed with a bullet to the head as the four-day crisis ended in a bloodbath on Saturday.
Most of the 32 militants who took hundreds of people hostage at the In Amenas gas complex in the Sahara on Wednesday had entered the country from neighbouring Mali, Sellal told a news conference here.
The premier gave the final grim figures after Algeria had warned other nations to prepare for a higher body count, amid fears as many as 50 captives may have died in the world’s deadliest hostage crisis in almost a decade.
“Thirty-seven foreigners of eight nationalities,” were killed during the siege, Sellal told reporters, with the death of an Algerian bringing the overall toll to 38.
He did not specify the nationalities of the foreigners, but other official sources have already confirmed that one Frenchman, one American, two Romanians, three Britons, six Filipinos and seven Japanese died in the siege.
Survivors’ photos seen by AFP showed bodies riddled with bullets, some with their heads half blown away by the impact of the gunfire.
Five Norwegian nationals remain unaccounted for, while Malaysian authorities say they have had no news about two of their nationals.
Foreign leaders initially accused Algeria of keeping them in the dark when it rushed ahead with the assault and urged caution for the sake of the hostages but then focused criticism on the Islamist militants behind the attack.
“The terrorist attack was planned over the past two months,” Sellal said, adding the group’s leader was Mohamed el-Amine Bencheneb, an Algerian militant known to the country’s security services, who was killed in the siege.
A total of 29 militants were killed and three captured in the siege which ended in a final showdown between special forces and the remaining militants holed up in the sprawling In Amenas gas complex.
Eleven of the hostage-takers, who were demanding an end to French military intervention in Mali, were Tunisian and another three Algerian, with the rest Canadian, Egyptian, Malian, Nigerian and Mauritanian.
‘We’re looking for Christians’
Governments have been scrambling to track down missing citizens as more as more harrowing details emerged of the siege.
One Japanese survivor was quoted in the Daily Yomiuri newspaper as telling colleagues how the gunmen had dragged him from his barricaded room, handcuffed him and executed two hostages standing nearby.
“They were brutally executed,” said an Algerian who identified himself as Brahim, after escaping the ordeal, referring to some of the Japanese victims gunned down by the hostage-takers.
A Filipino survivor described how the militants used foreign hostages as human shields to stop Algerian troops aboard helicopters from strafing them with gunfire.
Joseph Balmaceda told reporters in Manila he was the only survivor out of nine hostages in a van that blew up on Thursday, apparently from C-4 explosives the militants had rigged to the vehicle.
“I was the only one who survived because I was sandwiched between two spare tyres. That is why I am still here and can talk to you,” said the visibly distressed father of four.
The alleged mastermind of the hostage-taking, Mokhtar Belmokhtar, said in a video posted online that it was carried out by 40 fighters from the Muslim world and European countries.
His Al-Qaeda-linked group “Signatories in Blood” threatened to stage attacks on nations involved in the French-led operation to evict Islamists from Algeria’s neighbour Mali, and said it had been open to negotiations.
“But the Algerian army did not respond… preferring to stage an attack which led to the elimination of the hostages,” it said in a message published by the Mauritanian news agency ANI.
Most hostages were freed on Thursday in the first Algerian rescue operation, which was initially viewed by foreign governments as hasty, before the focus of public condemnation turned on the jihadists.
The In Amenas plant is run by Britain’s BP, Norway’s Statoil and Sonatrach of Algeria.
An Algerian employee of BP who identified himself as Abdelkader said he was at a security post with colleagues on Wednesday morning when he saw a jeep with seven people inside smash through the barrier and screech to a halt.
One of the militants got out of the vehicle, demanded their mobile phones and ordered them not to move, before disabling the security cameras.
“He said: ‘You are Algerians and Muslims, you have nothing to fear. We’re looking for Christians, who kill our brothers in Mali and Afghanistan and plunder our resources’.”
Source: MOLE
Algeria captures five kidnappers at gas plant
Algeria captures five kidnappers at gas plant
lN AMENAS: Algerian troops captured five kidnappers and found the bodies of 25 captives Sunday at a desert gas complex, reports said, as a minister warned the toll from a hostage crisis may rise.
Security forces discovered the bodies of 25 hostages as they combed the In Amenas complex deep in the Sahara, a day after the deadly stand-off with the Islamist gunmen ended, the private channel Ennahar said.
El Watan daily put the number of bodies found at around 30.
But a definitive toll remains unclear.
The mastermind of the brazen hostage-taking, Mokhtar Belmokhtar, said meanwhile in a video posted online that the attack was carried out by 40 fighters from the Muslim world and European countries.
“Five terrorists were found still alive this morning” at the gas field, where special forces launched a final rescue bid on Saturday that left 18 people dead, including seven hostages, Ennahar TV said.
But three others are at large, the station’s director, Anis Rahmani, told AFP.
Communications Minister Mohamed Said told a radio station: “I fear that it (the toll) may be revised upward,” after at least 23 foreigners and Algerians, mostly hostages, were killed since Wednesday.
“In all nine Japanese were killed,” one Algerian witness identified as Brahim said on Sunday, a day after the special forces swooped on the plant run by Britain’s BP, Norway’s Statoil and Sonatrach of Algeria to end the siege.
The first three were killed as they tried to escape from a bus taking them to the airport as the militant attack unfolded, witnesses said.
“We were all afraid when we heard bursts of gunfire at 5:30 am (0430 GMT) on Wednesday, after we realised that they had just killed our Japanese colleagues who tried to flee from the bus,” said Riad, who works for Japan’s JGC Corp engineering firm.
The gunmen then took the others to the residential compound, where they had seized hundreds of hostages, he said.
“A terrorist shouted ‘open the door!’ with a strong north American accent, and opened fire. Two other Japanese died then and we found four other Japanese bodies” in the compound, he added, choking with emotion.
In Tokyo, the government said it was aware of reports that nine Japanese had died in the hostage-taking, but had no confirmation of the fate of 10 of its nationals who remain unaccounted for.
Governments scrambled to track down their missing citizens as more details emerged of the deadly showdown after Islamists of the “Signatories in Blood” group raided the plant, demanding an end to French military intervention in Mali.
“Tragically, we now know that three British nationals have been killed, and a further three are believed to be dead. And also a further British resident is also believed to be dead,” said British Prime Minister David Cameron.
Statoil said the situation remains unresolved for five of its employees.
“We will, and we must, keep hoping for more positive news from Algeria. However, we must be prepared to deal with bad news in the next few days,” said Statoil chief executive Helge Lund.
The company said searches were underway inside the complex, in the surrounding desert, hospitals, In Amenas itself, and in other villages and towns.
Thirty-two kidnappers were also killed in the 72-hour stand-off, and the army freed 685 Algerian workers and 107 foreigners, said Algeria’s interior ministry.
Relatives of Kenneth Whiteside, 59, from Glenrothes in Scotland, were devastated after hearing an Algerian co-worker claimed to have seen him being shot but dying bravely with a smile, Britain’s Mail on Sunday reported.
And the mother of survivor Stephen McFaul, 36, from Belfast, told the Sunday Mirror her son will “have nightmares for the rest of his life after the things he saw.”
A security official told AFP it was believed seven foreigners were executed in retaliation on Saturday during the final assault that state TV said also killed 11 militants.
The gunmen, whose leader Belmokhtar is a former Al-Qaeda commander, first killed a Briton and an Algerian on a bus before taking hundreds hostage at the plant.
Most hostages were freed on Thursday in the first rescue operation which was initially widely condemned as hasty, before criticism was focussed on the jihadists.
“The blame for this tragedy rests with the terrorists who carried it out, and the United States condemns their actions in the strongest possible terms,” said US President Barack Obama after at least one American had already been confirmed dead.
French President Francois Hollande called Algiers’ response the most appropriate given it was dealing with coldly determined terrorists ready to kill their hostages.
Cameron also recognised the attack had been an extremely difficult situation to deal with.
Monitoring group IntelCenter said the hostage-taking was the largest since the 2008 Mumbai attack, and the biggest by jihadists since hundreds were killed in a Moscow theatre in 2002 and at a school in the Russian town of Beslan in 2004.
French troops advanced Sunday towards Mali’s Islamist-held north as Russia and Canada offered to help transport French and African soldiers to boost the Paris-led offensive.
On Saturday West African leaders demanded speedy UN aid to rout Islamists holding the vast desert north.
Source: MOLE
Toll from hostage bloodbath expected to worsen
IN AMENAS: Algeria warned other nations to prepare Monday for a higher body count from a hostage bloodbath at a gas plant that was overrun in what France called an act of war by Islamist militants.Algerian troops on Sunday reportedly found the bodies of 25 hostages and captured five kidnappers at the In Amenas gas plant, deep in the Sahara desert, a day after storming the remaining part of the complex still in militant hands.
Governments scrambled to track down missing citizens as more details emerged after the final showdown between special forces and extremists who had taken hundreds hostage, demanding an end to French military intervention in Mali.
Dozens of hostages appear to have died. Survivors' photos seen by AFP showed bodies riddled with bullets, some with their heads half blown away by the impact of the gunfire.
"They were brutally executed," said an Algerian who identified himself as Brahim, after escaping the ordeal, referring to Japanese victims gunned down by the hostage-takers.
Witnesses have said nine Japanese people connected to plant builder JGC were killed in the 72-hour ordeal. One Japanese man who survived gave a chilling account published Monday in the Daily Yomiuri newspaper.
The unidentified man was quoted as telling colleagues how the gunmen had dragged him from his barricaded room, handcuffed him and executed two hostages standing nearby.
"I was prepared to die," he said, before his captors abandoned him and other hostages who had been bundled into a vehicle that came under a hail of bullets. He then trudged for an hour through the desert to safety.
At least 23 foreigners and Algerians had been confirmed killed since the crisis erupted on Wednesday.
Ennahar television reported that the bodies of 25 hostages were found on Sunday by security forces combing through the plant, and that five hostage-takers had been captured alive.
Thirty-two kidnappers were also killed in the standoff, and the army freed 685 Algerian workers and 107 foreigners, the interior ministry said.
"I fear that it (the death toll) may be revised upward," Algerian Communications Minister Mohamed Said told a radio station, ahead of a news conference at 1330 GMT on Monday by Prime Minister Abdelmalek Sellal.
French Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian described the hostage-taking as an act of war because of the large number of hostages involved -- the biggest since the 2008 attack by Islamist extremists on the Indian city of Mumbai.
'We're looking for Christians'
The one-eyed mastermind of the hostage-taking, Mokhtar Belmokhtar, said in a video posted online that it was carried out by 40 fighters from the Muslim world and European countries.His Al-Qaeda-linked group "Signatories in Blood" threatened to stage attacks on nations involved in the French-led operation to evict Islamists from Algeria's neighbour Mali, and said it had been open to negotiations.
"But the Algerian army did not respond... preferring to stage an attack which led to the elimination of the hostages," it said in a message published by the Mauritanian news agency ANI.
Most hostages were freed on Thursday in the first Algerian rescue operation, which was initially viewed by foreign governments as hasty, before the focus of public condemnation turned on the jihadists.
"The blame for this tragedy rests with the terrorists who carried it out, and the United States condemns their actions in the strongest possible terms," President Barack Obama said, with one American confirmed dead.
Prime Minister David Cameron said six Britons and one British resident were thought to have been killed in the hostage crisis, which he said was a stark reminder of the threat of global terrorism.
Among the other hostages killed were at least one Algerian, one Colombian and two Romanians. Those still unaccounted for include several Japanese nationals, five Norwegians, two Americans and two Malaysians.
The plant is run by Britain's BP, Norway's Statoil and Sonatrach of Algeria.
An Algerian employee of BP who identified himself as Abdelkader said he was at a security post on Wednesday with colleagues when he saw a jeep with seven people inside smash through the barrier and screech to a halt.
One of the militants demanded their mobile phones and ordered them not to move, before disabling the security cameras.
"He said: 'You are Algerians and Muslims, you have nothing to fear. We're looking for Christians, who kill our brothers in Mali and Afghanistan and plunder our resources'."
Witnesses agreed that the hostage-takers were well informed about the In Amenas complex, close to the Libyan border, and suspected inside help.
Anxiety mounts over deadly Algerian hostage raid
ALGIERS: Western governments voiced alarm over the fate of dozens of foreigners seized by Islamists at a gas plant in the Algerian desert after several hostages were killed in a dramatic rescue operation.The Algerian military assault left several people killed or wounded but freed a large number of hostages, according to Communications Minister Mohamed Said, as special forces took control of a residential compound at the complex.
Hundreds of hostages were being held at the compound, part of the sprawling In Amenas site, after Islamist militants seized the gas plant on Wednesday purportedly to avenge a French-led offensive in Mali.
Algerian officials said soldiers were still surrounding the site's main gas facility, which was yet to be secured in the air and ground assault.
Algerian reports said nearly 600 local workers and four foreigners -- two from Britain, one from France and one from Kenya -- were freed during Thursday's operation.
One man from Northern Ireland escaped. According to his brother, Stephen McFaul fled when the convoy in which he was travelling came under fire from the army, and had earlier had explosives tied around his neck.
A total of 41 foreigners had been reported among the hostages. The huge plant employs workers from Britain, France, Italy, Japan, Norway and the United States among others, and there was widespread anxiety at the fast-moving developments.
British Prime Minister David Cameron, who cancelled a key speech on European policy to monitor the crisis, described a very bad situation at the site near Algeria's border with Libya.
"Already we know of one (Briton) who has died," Cameron said. "It is a very dangerous, very uncertain, a very fluid situation, and I think we have to prepare ourselves for the possibility of bad news ahead."
Foreign governments said Algeria gave them no prior warning of the raid. A senior US official said Washington strongly encouraged the authorities to make the hostages' safety their top priority.
Japan's government also urged Algiers to protect the hostages, arguing that the army raid was regrettable and that there was no clear information emanating from the scene.
The kidnappers said 34 captives had died in the assault, but this was impossible to confirm. They told Mauritanian news agency ANI they would kill all the hostages if the Algerian forces succeed in entering the complex.
The site is run by British oil giant BP, Norway's Statoil and Algerian energy firm Sonatrach. Japanese construction company JGC said it had confirmed the safety of three out of its 17 Japanese staff, and one Filipino.
'The Uncatchable' mastermind
Veteran Islamist fighter Mokhtar Belmokhtar, a one-eyed Algerian jihadist with Al-Qaeda ties, has claimed responsibility for launching Wednesday's attack.Belmokhtar, dubbed "The Uncatchable" by French intelligence and "Mister Marlboro" for his cigarette smuggling, was until recently one of the leaders of Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb.
But he was pushed out of the organisation towards the end of last year and set up a group called "Signatories in Blood". He has been blamed for previous abductions and the killings of both Algerians and foreigners.
The chief hostage taker on the ground, Abu al-Baraa, was reported killed in the Algerian operation by ANI, which often carries reliable reports from Al-Qaeda linked groups.
"We demand the Algerian army pull out from the area to allow negotiations," Abu al-Baraa had earlier told Al-Jazeera news channel.
But Algeria insisted it would not negotiate with terrorists.
The hostage drama dragged Algiers and Western powers into the Mali conflict, taking the spotlight off French and government troops battling the Islamists in control of the country's vast desert north.
The rebels have held the north since April last year and moved south into government-held territory last week, prompting France to intervene in its former West African colony before they could threaten roads to Mali's capital Bamako.
The UN special envoy for the Sahel, Romano Prodi, said the French air and ground intervention in Mali was the only way to stop Islamists creating a terrorist safe haven in the heart of Africa.
In Brussels, French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said EU countries may provide troops to help France.
On Thursday, more French troops poured into Mali, boosting their number to 1,400, Paris said. At full strength the force will reach 2,500 soldiers.
