German archaeologist hostage in Irag

[kevin wooldridge]

Have just seen that Dave Beard's blog site http://www.archaeology.eu.com has the full story in English

[i_love_rocks]

Being a native German speaker I have looked at the various news reports on Der Spiegel etc.
Bascially, Susanne Osthoff was not working in Iraq as an archaeologist at the time of her kidnapping, but was involved in delivering medicine and other aid goods to Iraq. She has worked as an archaeologist in Iraq in the past and has been conducting work on the looting issue of ancient sites in Iraq.
According to her family she 'fell in love' with Iraq and its people during her various field visits in the past, and developed a strong feeling (quote: 'almost fanatical') to help. She has brought aid goods to Iraq since before the current invasion, knows the country well and speaks fluent Arabic. She does have a 12 year old daugther, which is currently in a boarding school in southern Germany.
In the German press this is seen as Angela Merkel's first 'crisis test' and she will want to make a strong public impression so that she doesn't come across as too soft. That's why she is saying that they are not going to pay any ransome. I guess we will not really find out whether the German government is willing to pay a ransome to the kidnappers or not. As previously indicated on this thread the official EU policy is not to pay kidnappers.
However, that doesn't necessarily mean that they are not going to do it through secret diplomatic/ intelligence channels. In a previous case two or three years ago when ten tourists where kidnapped in Algeria it was rumoured in the German press that the German government did pay a handsome sum to the kidnappers (all but one walked free).

Having met some of the Archaeologists for Human Rights folks in jordan last year, I don't think that she is involved with them.

Hosty - if you need any translations into German for correspondence let me know.

T.


update: apparently Ms. Osthoff was warned by the German embassy in Baghdad that she was a target for kidnapping by al-Qaida and was urged to leave the country for her own safety, according to the "Tagesschau" homepage. She also received personal threats from elements associated with al-Qaida. However, she refused to leave and ignored the warnings, according to German embassy officials.

[i_love_rocks]

Interestingly, there are speculations in the German media that Osthoff was targetted because the German Archaeological Institute is planning to do restauration and rescue work at Babylon. The kidnapping of an archaeologist may therefore be understood as a warning to the German archaeologists and the German government not to work together with the new Iraqi government and its archaeological authorities. Seems like Ms Osthoff was a very carefully selected target...

I guess that will make work at Babylon for the D.A.I. more unlikely.

Lets hope for the best for Ms Osthoff.

T.

[BAJR Host]

many thanks and I may jsut take you up on the translation....

will email you tonight I hope.

ps... when were you in jordan... I was at Jerash?

Another day another WSI?

[i_love_rocks]

Hosty:
I was there from August to November this year (as well as from 2002-2004).
Saw your name on the hostel noticeboard, but we overlapped only very briefly. We had a couple of beers with your mates, but you were either down south or back in the UK already. Close encounter

[BAJR Host]

you were lucky!!



Another day another WSI?

[Real Job]

Post-Med, what a govt says in public and what it does behind the scenes are often different (I think there have been cases of it during the current war) and 'one within a grey range to move have' does sound like an indication of flexibility. The German govt is more likely to pay ransom demands if international pressure is evident.

But I agree its not the best solution in the long term - I suppose bringing the imperialist project to an end is the only real solution.

If the reasons for her kidnap are what is suggested by I Love Rocks, then that is a shame. But I can understand how any co-operation with the new Iraqi regime is seen by many of the people in Iraq as legitimising a puppet government. You don't have to support their actions to understand their motives...

[Tim]

Susanne Ostoff has been living in Iraq for at least 10 years and converted to islam

Little Tim