Report on an Abduction: A Desert Kidnapping
It was one of the most spectacular hostage crises in German postwar history. In March of 2003, 32 tourists from Germany, Austria, the Netherlands, and Switzerland were kidnapped in the Algerian desert by Salafist terrorists. The five off-road groups vanished into border regions adjacent to Libya and Nigeria. After three months, 17 hostages were freed, while the other tourists remained in captivity for six months. In an adventure fraught with danger, the two groups were moved across the desert by their captors, using Jeeps, to Mali – a distance of 2000 kilometers. Physically battered and enduring the scorching heat, the hostages were forced to submit to their uncertain fate. They received information about diplomatic negotiations only through infrequent radio news reports. This extraordinary case held German authorities in a state of suspense for months. The film chronicles these months spent in the desert, as well as the efforts of the German crisis team.
