Japan`s efforts for release of hostages in Iraq stalled
IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency
Tokyo, April 12, Kyodo/OANA/IRNA -- The Japanese government leaders said Monday they are dealing with a barrage of information concerning the three Japanese nationals taken hostage last week by an armed group in Iraq as the government continues to work on gaining their release. "The pieces of information are all entangled, and we cannot confirm the facts," Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi told reporters at his office. "There are all kinds of information, and we cannot know which is true or false." Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuo Fukuda said late afternoon that the situation has not changed since Monday morning, when he told a press conference the government still had no information on whether the three had been released. The top government spokesman also said in the morning, "There was a time when we could determine from various respects that (the hostages) were safe, but at this point, we are not able to confirm it." Fukuda told reporters early in the day he could not talk about the content of negotiations with the kidnappers, suggesting that efforts to talk with the armed group through mediators are ongoing. The three Japanese are believed to be held near Fallujah, west of Baghdad, and a negotiator has told the Japanese government they remain safe, a government source said early Monday, acknowledging that an unidentified person is serving as a mediator. Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Yoriko Kawaguchi said Japan received prior notice that Arab satellite news channel Al-Jazeera was planning to air scenes of the release of the three Japanese at 3 p.m. Monday Japan time, but it ended up not showing the footage. Kawaguchi told a House of Representatives ad-hoc committee on the reconstruction assistance to Iraq that she will `refrain from talking about the content or why it was not broadcast`. The families of the hostages continued to call for an early resolution of the situation, asking leading Japanese lawmakers to urge the hostage-takers to provide proof that their loved ones are alive such as via new video footage. On Monday, visiting US Vice President Dick Cheney promised Koizumi that the United States would provide utmost efforts to help Japan resolve the hostage crisis, Japanese officials said. Cheney also expressed appreciation for the deployment of Self-Defense Forces (SDF) troops in the southern Iraqi city of Samawah to assist in Iraq`s reconstruction, while Koizumi reiterated Japan`s determination to continue contributing to the process in cooperation with the US, the officials said. Koizumi`s biggest political crisis began last Thursday, when Al-Jazeera aired footage just after 9 p.m. Japan time showing the hostages -- Noriaki Imai, 18, a recent high school graduate and freelance writer from Sapporo, Soichiro Koriyama, 32, a freelance photojournalist from Tokyo, and Nahoko Takato, 34, a volunteer worker from Chitose, Hokkaido -- with several men pointing guns at them. The armed group, which calls itself Saraya al-Mujahideen (Mujahideen Brigades), reportedly told the Qatar-based channel it would burn the hostages alive if Japan refused to withdraw its troops from Iraq within three days. According to Al-Jazeera, the militant group faxed a statement to the news organization after 2 a.m. Sunday Japan time, saying it would release the three `within 24 hours`. Al-Jazeera reported the news at around 2:40 a.m. Sunday Japan time. Later that morning, Japanese government sources said that the three might be set free around noon the same day and that the hostages were said to be safe, citing information obtained from a high-ranking Iraqi official. But there have been no significant developments concerning the hostages since. Despite requests by the families of the three to pull the SDF troops out of Iraq, Koizumi rejected the kidnappers` demands, saying the troops are working for the reconstruction of Iraq and to help the people of Iraq. Patchy information and mixed media reports have since added to growing worries over whether the three will soon be released. An Iraqi human rights activist said Sunday night Japan time the militant group had extended the deadline for Japan to withdraw the SDF troops by 24 hours, Al-Jazeera reported. In an interview with the broadcaster, Mazhar al-Delemie, who heads a human rights organization, said the kidnappers are threatening to kill one of the hostages within 24 hours, a second within the following 12 hours and the third within another 12 hours if Japan refuses to withdraw the SDF troops from the country. Al-Delemie claims to be a mediator for the group, but Al-Jazeera as well as a senior Foreign Ministry official in Tokyo discounted the information attributed to al-Delemie, saying its credibility is low. The three Japanese are believed to have been taken hostage while they were traveling to Baghdad in a car that left Amman on Tuesday night. Recently there has been a series of incidents involving Iraqi militants capturing or stopping foreigners, including nationals of Britain, Canada, China, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, South Korea and the US. Some of them have reportedly been killed while others are said to have been released. Ground Self-Defense Force personnel in Samawah had just recently begun full-fledged activities in the city, including purifying water, providing medical advice, and fixing schools and other public infrastructure. However, earlier this month, Tokyo suspended their work outside the camp due to growing security concerns. It is the first time since the SDF was established half a century ago that Japan has dispatched troops to a country where fighting is taking place. /AH/210 End
|
NEWSLETTER
|
| Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list |
|
|
|
