Kidnapped tourists 'in good health' - Egypt official

REMOTE PLACE: A tourist in the Egyptian desert of Gilf al-Kabir near the borders of Libya and Sudan. (AFP)

Nineteen tourists and Egyptians kidnapped in the Sahara desert have been located in good health in Sudan but no rescue attempt will be made if there is a risk of harm, Egyptian and Sudanese officials have said.

"They are now in an area of no-man's land between the Sudanese, Libyan and Egyptian border, in the area of Jebel Uweinat," Sudanese foreign ministry undersecretary Mutrief Sadiq said in Khartoum.

"Their position has been pinpointed and there is coordination between Sudan and Egyptian authorities in this regard.

"From our point of view the security of the hostages is the absolute priority - we do not want an operation that harms hostages."

Ali Yousuf, director of protocol at the Sudanese foreign ministry, also said the group had been taken to Jebel Uweinat, or mountain of small springs, a range that straddles the border.

He told Egypt's official MENA agency that the group was being held 25 kilometres inside Sudanese territory.

"The available information now is that the kidnappers are Egyptian nationals," Yousuf told Sudan's official SUNA news agency, adding that Sudanese forces were besieging the area but had no intention of storming it.

Egyptian Tourism Minister Zuhair Garana said earlier that the group of 11 foreigners and eight Egyptians, snatched by masked gunmen on Friday while on a desert safari in Egypt's remote southwest , were in "very good health."

"We have very sure and reliable information that everyone is fine; they are in very good health and they have enough food and water. They have not been badly treated," he said.

"We are going to continue our efforts to release the hostages and we will do that until this unfortunate incident is completely resolved."

Garana flatly denied reports the kidnappers had threatened to kill the hostages -- including five Italians, five Germans and a Romanian -- if any attempt were made to rescue them.

"We never received any threats whatsoever," he insisted.

He said Egypt had no direct contact with the kidnappers but was being kept updated by the German wife of the Egyptian tour group leader who has been speaking to her husband via satellite telephone.

However, Sudanese official Yousuf said Egypt was speaking with them.

"There is communication between the Egyptian authorities and the kidnappers to let the tourists go free," said Yousuf. "Sudan is in communication with Egypt and facilitating in every way to help the hostages be released."

Egypt has sent a team to Sudan to try to secure the release of the hostages, a security official said.

Garana said reported ransom figures of six, eight or 15 million dollars "are not accurate."

German ambassador to Cairo Bernd Erbel told Garana that "the German government is having contacts with the kidnappers over their ransom demand," MENA quoted Garana as saying.

Egypt was forced to deny a statement by its own Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul Gheit in New York on Monday that all 19 had been freed, dashing hopes of a swift end to the drama.

Romanian ambassador to Cairo Gheorghe Dumitrou told AFP the situation was unchanged on Tuesday.

An Italian source in Cairo said the missing Italians were three women and two men, some in their 70s.

The tourism ministry in Egypt - which relies heavily on earnings from foreign visitors - stressed that "this is an act of banditry not of terrorism."

"Four masked gunmen attacked four vehicles affiliated to a tourist company. They kidnapped the tourists and led them to the Sudanese lands," MENA quoted the ministry as saying.

Authorities only became aware of the abduction when the tour company owner, an Egyptian who is among the missing, used a satellite telephone to call his German wife and tell her of the ransom demand.

MENA said he called again late on Monday to tell her they were "safe and sound."

The area of the kidnapping is a desert plateau famous for prehistoric cave paintings, including the "Cave of the Swimmers" featured in the 1996 film "The English Patient."

One travel agent told AFP that in January a German group was attacked and robbed in the same area. They were abandoned in the desert with nothing but a satellite telephone. It is not known who the attackers were.

Kidnappings of foreigners are extremely rare in Egypt, although in 2001 an armed Egyptian held four German tourists hostage for three days in Luxor, demanding that his estranged wife bring his two sons back from Germany. He freed the hostages unharmed.

Egypt has, however, witnessed a number of deadly attacks against foreigners which have been blamed on Al-Qaeda and other Islamist militants.

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