The hostage drama in the Sahara, part 3

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The hostage drama in the Sahara, part 3
Brings

to travel

The hostage drama in the Sahara, part 3

The hostage drama in the Sahara, part 3
The Liberation

In the last part of the diary of the almost six-month kidnapping by Algerian terrorists, Rainer Bracht describes the grueling escape through Mali. Meanwhile, Petra Bracht is following the German government’s struggle for a breakthrough in negotiations. When the redeeming “You are free” finally sparks through the ether on August 17th, nobody can really believe it anymore.

Annette Johann

12/13/2003

Rainer: We have finally crossed the border into Mali and can rest for a few days near a well. For weeks we have been on the run with our kidnappers in the meanwhile scorching hot southwestern Algeria. At the fountain, Sascha manages to draw Targi’s attention to our situation unnoticed. In fact, the news reached the mayor of Tessalit a little later. A radio message comes in, we should get in touch. But not as hoped by the German authorities, but by the mayor of Illizi in Algeria. The kidnappers are back on their feet immediately! Away, now! The border is still too close to prevent the Algerian army from attacking. Petra: On July 29, 2003, the 158th day, the police called at 8.30 p.m. I now have the opportunity to write Rainer a letter. They would have to fax it to Berlin in half an hour. Chaos is breaking out in my head ?? there is so much to ask and tell. And now find the right words in a hurry … In fact, half an hour later a police officer rings the doorbell to pick up the letter. Shortly afterwards, it occurs to me that I didn’t even think about sending kisses! Rainer: Another phase of exhausting long-distance journeys begins. We are shaken up in the off-road vehicle for up to 36 hours without a break. After a few days, completely exhausted, we reach a dry river bed in which we stay for some time. Fighters from the 9th Rebel Division have been with us for a while. They are supposed to support the action because they know their way around here and supposedly have connections in Mali. At some point a young Targi with his dromedary marches fearlessly through our camp. Only when he has greeted everyone with a handshake do the mudjas discover him and send him away. Petra: Just one day later I received a letter from Rainer. It’s overwhelming! Amazingly, he asks exactly the questions I answered yesterday. I call parents and siblings and read the letter to each one of them. Our parents come immediately and want to see the note with their own eyes. He calms them down, even when he’s five weeks old. Rainer: The kidnappers are making another video. First a group shot, then everyone can say hello to their family. In a written statement they explain that Michaela Spitzer’s death was a tragic accident that they themselves regretted and that we would be treated well. We all have to sign. We sincerely hope that Michaela’s death has at least one purpose to make clear the seriousness of our situation. Like the kidnappers, we are now placing all our hopes in the Malian government. It is considered more cooperative than the Algerian one and could finally get things moving. Even I’m cautiously optimistic. The next day the emir (commander) sets out to negotiate with a troop. They take our fellow prisoner Christian Grune with them. He and his girlfriend in Berlin speak French fluently, so the Mudjas hope to be able to establish direct contact with the German government. Petra: On July 31, 2003 the police announced a video of the kidnappers. I’m extremely restless and round up the rest of the family. Nobody knows what to expect. What will they look like? I’m afraid. Everyone is there at 6 p.m. The police too. It is unthinkable if the tape were leaked to the media. It’s eleven days old, all of the hostages can be seen on it, and everyone says a short sentence. “Rainer Bracht, Allemagne, greetings to the family and to Petra!” Christian then explains that they need medication, that the extreme heat and the food supply are problematic and that they mourn Michaela Spitzer’s death. And hoped for an end soon. You look relatively good, are neatly dressed, and are not completely emaciated. But tired and annoyed. When the family is gone, I shut myself up completely, I absolutely need some rest. My thoughts are only with Rainer. Rainer: We leave while the film is being brought to the German embassy in Bamako. It goes non-stop to northwest Mali for 36 hours. A total of 600 kilometers. For the first time it starts to rain and we have an abundance of water, we can bathe and even do laundry. Petra: On Friday, August 1st, 2003, an interview with me will appear in the “Welt” that I have never given. I think you can’t go any deeper in journalism. Over the weekend I try to find my energy and patience again. I succeed, but there is no other option either. Hopefully Rainer and the others haven’t lost theirs yet. In Heiligenkirchen there is a memorial service for the hostages, and a lady from a sect is calling for the third time. She wrote poetry and wanted to help the hostages with the proceeds … In the evening the PC crashes. Diagnosis: hard drive destroyed and all data gone. So start from scratch and re-enter everything. On Tuesday the computer will be made to the point that you can work on it. My navel to the world. Day after day goes by and I fall into depression for a week, not wanting to talk to anyone because I just burst into tears all the time. Feel empty, tired and slain. I mobilize all my strength to get out of the hole. The only one who could comfort me is in Mali. Rainer: After two weeks, a few of the emir’s allegiances reappear. Together with off-road vehicles of the Malian government. Now something really seems to be moving. We get almost euphoric. You not only have medicines and mineral water with you, but letters from home! From Petra! She answered my questions. How she survived the operation, what the family and especially my sick grandmother are doing, how she can make ends meet financially without my wages and so on. It wasn’t until much later that I found out that she didn’t even have my letter at the time. She just knew what was going to move me. I am happy how close we are. Petra: On August 9, 2003, another meeting will take place at the Foreign Office. Since I am handicapped by the operation, a summary of the conversation is sent to me at home. It finally denies the persistent rumor that some hostages are sick. Only sciatica pain from lying down seems to plague a few, otherwise everyone is okay. Furthermore, Christian Grune has apparently established telephone contact between the kidnappers and the German government, and the negotiations that had previously been conducted by a Tuareg leader named Iyad Ag Agaly are now regulated by a governor in Gao. A military action is no longer considered in Mali in order not to endanger the lives of the 14. Sometimes I think that Rainer and I will never leave this fate again. Rainer: The Islamists are just as excited as we are, they always have the radio on their ears so as not to miss any news. Sometimes the emir is radioed several times a day. Nevertheless, I am now experiencing the only threatening situation in the entire hostage situation that came from the kidnappers themselves: When we wanted to seek protection in one of the off-road vehicles during the rain, as agreed, a fighter tried to prevent us from doing so. I angrily remind him of our agreement, whereupon he, furious, grabs a Kalashnikov and loads it in front of me. Fortunately, his colleagues overwhelm him in time. What happened? Amazingly, they believe my explanation and apologize for their quick-tempered buddy. Why am I not afraid? With a joke I weigh the matter down. Petra: State Secretary Chrobog flies to Algiers on August 12, 2003 and then on to Malian President Amadou Toumani Toure in Bamako. The conversations lasted for hours, but Chrobog is very optimistic afterwards. It won’t be long now. A couple of weeks, maybe just days. I move from one branch to the other. Send Chrobog a postcard with a picture of a rusted padlock. Need to thank him. Rainer: After two weeks we’ll set off again, speed back in a south-westerly direction. Something seems to have changed because the kidnappers are no longer hiding, but are using normal slopes for the first time. However, they continue to drive until a tired driver overlooks a wave and the car almost overturns. Only then will you sleep. And then repaired the Toyota. Most of the time it would go faster if they drove a little slower, but that would contradict the Arab way of thinking. Petra: On the 175th day, I suddenly feel that something is happening. And my feeling has always been the most reliable indicator so far. I know Chrobog can handle it. How difficult the negotiations must be can only be guessed at. In Algeria, it was difficult to dissuade the government from a second military operation. Then ?? how should everyone get to Mali unscathed? And there trust can be rebuilt between kidnappers and negotiating partners? How can a surrender take place without the kidnappers having to fear that they will be shot immediately? The Algerian military had reluctantly kept an escape corridor open for the terrorists? but they are still lying in wait on the Malian border. I’m afraid that weapons will be ordered at the end. But I was assured that that was exactly what shouldn’t happen … Rainer: We’ll camp at an agreed meeting point, waiting for the emir. It’s the same place where we parted from him two weeks ago. A good sign. I’m fetching food from the mudjas when the noise of the engine can be heard. Immediately they jump into their combat vests and shoot into the air. A befitting reception for Emir Abd el Razak, who returns with his negotiating group. He personally steps up to us prisoners and solemnly declares that everything has been settled, we are free! Petra: On Saturday evening, August 16, 2003, a journalist friend informed me that the release was imminent, probably in the night from Sunday to Monday. It would be too nice, but for me only THE call counts. The police also ask me to be available at all times now. I can literally feel it tingling. Then it happens, on August 17, 2003 at 10:37 p.m. the police call? you are free! Berlin has just officially confirmed it. I cry with happiness. Rainer: We have to pack up and are brought together a few kilometers away with a group from the Malian military and Tuaregs. Including Ag Agaly, a legendary leader of the Tuareg rebellion in the early 1990s. They had taken on the role of mediator and we are now being handed over to them. It really is over. Most fundamentalists say goodbye to us with Arab politeness and a friendly pat on the back, and even invite us to come back to Algeria, nothing would happen to us. However, other travelers are threatened by our fate, they emphasize at the same time. Express, the driver with glasses like glass blocks, thinks of my health and urges me to stop smoking and to avoid pork and alcohol in the future. I promise my best, but I suspect that I will not succeed. Finally, the emir wants my e-mail address so that he can let me know when they have recovered my BMW, in case the Algerian military doesn’t take care of it. The situation is grotesque. I’m not even mad at you? they probably don’t even know what they did to us. Petra: It’s on the news at 10:45 p.m. How stunned do I stare at the screen, where Chrobog’s happy face can be seen in front of the cameras? it really has come, the moment. After 177 days and nights. I’m celebrating a little with Andreas and Steffi from our house when the phone rings again around midnight. Who else is calling now? “Hello?” “Hello, it’s me, Rainer!” There is a total emptiness in my head: “Rainer, which Rainer?” “Yes, Rainer, your husband!” Then I burst into tears and immediately afterwards the croaking one Connection together. So that was the call. And I don’t even recognize Rainer’s voice! Incomprehensible! When he called a second time shortly afterwards, I was more composed. He says that he is fine, that they have just eaten and that they were about to go to sleep. For some reason I ask if he still has his sleeping bag. No, not for a long time. They slept like that in the sand. I hardly understand anything because of the noise, but it’s overwhelming. Rainer: When it gets dark we set off on our last trip. Around midnight, the Tuaregs stop at a waterhole with dry wood to make tea. We are allowed to call home via satellite phone. It’s Petra’s turn, but completely stunned, probably not counting on me. But it’s wonderful to hear them. Petra: A little later the first journalists appear in front of the house, there is no more evasive action: “How are you feeling, how is your husband, have you already had contact?” The next day they storm Steffi while going shopping. Together with Andreas, she takes over the incessantly tinkling telephone that cannot be turned off because of possible further calls from Rainer. The plane is scheduled to arrive in Cologne the next morning. Two police officers want to go with me. I am happy to hear who it is: It was with these two that it all began, they had contacted me and more than once helped to prevent the worst. Rainer: We set off at dawn and Gao is 500 kilometers ahead of us. At lunchtime we are served tea, milk and biscuits in a village, then we move on as quickly as possible. At dusk we reach the city and a little later the governor’s palace. After several speeches, during which I mainly long for a beer, I take a plane to the President in the capital Bamako. He was instrumental in our release, as I learn from people who were flying with us from the Foreign Office in Berlin. They also tell me about Petra, what a great job she did in Germany, how much optimism and composure she spread. Petra! I lean back gratefully. My worries about her drop with weight, I’m happy and a little proud. She seems to have made a difference for us. Petra: With a bag full of clothes, pipes, gummy bears, chocolate and the shoes I bought weeks ago, we leave for the airport at dawn. When we arrive there is still enough time and I watch the plane from Bamako land at the window. Now it’s not mug shots on television, now it’s real. The moment Rainer comes through the door finally overwhelms me. He has become very narrow and deep brown, and when trained he looks like a marathon runner. He still has a sleeping mat and a bag, nothing more is left of his belongings. Inside are a few clothes that never belonged to him, two stones from the desert, half a bracelet and a small petrified spine … When I put my arms around him, I can still smell the dust and the dry air of the Sahara. “Finally,” that’s all I can say. What I will never forget is his happy laugh at this moment. It’s over.Rainer: Now we’re finally going home to Germany. Sleep is out of the question, with many conversations the night literally goes by in flight. Suddenly a final conflict breaks out among the 14 of us ?? one of the Swiss does not want to give the coordinates of Michaela’s grave to the police. First, what should be done with it must be discussed in the group. My God! I am so happy that it is over. But before I can really get upset, I discover Petra. And everything else fades to nothing. I arrived.

The Sahara Club

The Sahara Club (www.sahara-club.de), which was founded in 1984 and has 1200 members in Germany, provided the decisive information early on in the investigation of the initially puzzling disappearance of travelers to Algeria. The association’s Internet forum published the first search message on March 10th, having been made aware of members whose relatives did not return from North Africa. According to Rainer Bracht and colleagues. As a result of the exchange of information, more people became aware, and the club pointed out a possible crime as early as March 19. Using maps and committed informants, a “crisis team” developed a precise picture of who was traveling where in southern Algeria and that the contacts were always broken on the graveyard: basic information for the search teams. Seven out of 13 localized tour groups were abducted.

Final consideration

I feel a great need to thank all the people and authorities whose work ultimately led to our rescue. I am overwhelmed by the solidarity and help that Petra has received from members of the Sahara Club, the Darr company and countless private individuals. Had I even suspected all of this, my odyssey would have been easier for me. On the other hand, it is difficult to accept that local agencies and tour guides knew months before the kidnappings of “strange people” on the grave runway, but did not pass the information on. In addition, the Algerian military ignored the Tuareg reports that camps were being set up in the Tamelrik Mountains. And despite great gratitude that everything humanly possible was later done for us there ?? The Foreign Office’s travel warning for southern Algeria was definitely too late. The Sahara Club had already pointed out a number of missing persons on March 19, 2003. Rainer Bracht

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