This is an undated photo provided by the Korkie family, of South African Pierre Korkie. An American photojournalist and a South African teacher held by al-Qaida militants in Yemen were killed Saturday, Dec. 6, 2014, during a U.S.-led rescue operation that President Barack Obama said he ordered because of “imminent danger” to the U.S. hostage. South African Pierre Korkie is believed to have died during the flight, while American Luke Somers died on the ship, according to senior U.S. officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because the information had yet to be approved for release. (Korkie Family/Associated Press)
JOHANNESBURG — The United States did not know about talks on the reportedly imminent release of a South African hostage who died in a U.S. raid on al-Qaida militants in Yemen, the U.S. ambassador in South Africa said Monday.
Ambassador Patrick Gaspard said American officials were “unaware of ongoing negotiations that had any resolution” between the militants and Gift of the Givers, a South African humanitarian relief group that had been acting on behalf of the family of South African hostage Pierre Korkie. Gaspard also said it was “not altogether clear” to him that the South African government was even aware of the talks.
Korkie and American hostage Luke Somers were killed Saturday during a U.S.-led rescue attempt. Imtiaz Sooliman, founder of Gift of the Givers, has said that Korkie was supposed to be released Sunday under a deal struck with al-Qaida.
Gaspard said the U.S. hadn’t been informed about that. The U.S. decided to carry out the raid because the militants had threatened to kill Somers, Gaspard said.
“We were just completely unaware of those developments and had to act hastily,” the ambassador said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press.
U.S. President Barack Obama has said he ordered the raid because Somers was believed to be in “imminent danger” after al-Qaida released a video showing Somers and threatening to kill him in three days if the U.S. did not meet the group’s unspecified demands.
Gaspard cited comments by Sooliman, the aid group director, that there were no guarantees that the negotiated release of Korkie would have proceeded smoothly. However, the ambassador said the talks appeared to have made progress.
“It does appear that they were pretty far down the track,” Gaspard said.
Copyright 2014 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Source: Top Stories - Google News - http://ift.tt/1zgWAea
0 comments:
Post a Comment