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New-York Times: European countries help bankroll armed groups

30 July 2014 13:02 (UTC +04:00)

According to her investigation, Al Qaeda is one of the armed groups that are making the greatest amount of money by kidnappings. They make exchanges in North African countries. The author added that armed groups face no difficulty having dialogues with European governments for ransoms: “Kidnapping Europeans for ransom has become a global business for Al Qaeda, bankrolling its operations across the globe. While European governments deny paying ransoms, an investigation by The New York Times found that Al Qaeda and its direct affiliates have taken in at least $125 million in revenue from kidnappings since 2008, of which $66 million was paid just last year”.

The article says armed groups largely prefer to kidnap diplomats, journalists, or representatives of international organizations that are European-based: “Although the kidnappers threaten to kill their victims, a review of the known cases revealed that only a small percentage of hostages held by Qaeda affiliates have been executed in the past five years, a marked turnaround from a decade ago, when videos showing beheadings of foreigners held by the group’s franchise in Iraq would regularly turn up online. Now the group has realized it can advance the cause of jihad by keeping hostages alive and trading them for prisoners and suitcases of cash. Only a handful of countries have resisted paying, led by the United States and Britain”.

As for Germany, the author says this country budgeted $5 mln. as humanitarian aid for the poor, landlocked nation of Mali for the release of 32 hostages in 2003: “There many questions to ask Europeans. They pay terrorists but do not admit it. This not only finances terrorists, but also creates the grounds for Europeans to be kidnapped”.