Algerian hostages’ families call on the president Bouteflika to free them from the Somali pirates

Families of the Algerian sailors held hostages by the Somali pirates have decided to stage a rally by the ship-owner’s company HQ to ask for the measures undertaken by the managers to resolve the case of their children.

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• The families are due to rally by the Algerian foreign ministry’s premises next Sunday in a move to convince the Algerian diplomatic authorities to put the case high on the agenda, after noticing that the Algerian authorities have neglected them in the wake of the recent wave of unrests that wracked a number of Arab countries.
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• The families have called on the Algerian president Abdelaziz Bouteflika to intervene in a bid to resolve the problem as he did with the Algerian refugees based in Libya when he sent a boat to Benghazi to repatriate them to their home country.
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• The families move came following the incapacity of the ship-owner to free the hostages from the grip of the pirates who have inserted further pressure on him, to force the Algerian authorities to pay a ransom in exchange of their liberation.
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• According to the wives and relatives of the hostages, the situation is not optimistic at all especially after the telephone calls they have received yesterday from the hostages where he revealed that the pirates have prevented them from eating and drinking for ten days.
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• One of the hostages’ wife has declared to Echourok that her husband has told her that the pirates informed them that the company’s managers and the Algerian authorities have refused negotiations since their abduction more than a month ago.
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