Missing 4wd, couple, in Tunisia

[Grant Johnson]

From post on Desert-info.ch (in German)
www.desert-info.ch :: Thema anzeigen - VERMISST IN TUNESIEN!!! Bitte lesen!

In Tunisia missing since 18.2.08
Vehicle is a Land Rover Defender 110 TD5, blue (-Cairns = medium blue metallic), HA 661 EV indicator - Austria
The vehicle is striking because höhergelegt, 9.00er XZL tyres, stainless steel sill and snorkel, brown leather seats, Aludachträger, Zurrschienen side, additional tanks and deck space inside.

Wolfgang Ebners and girlfriend, name unknown
are 1 man (about 175, short hair, slim) and 1 woman (slim, schulterlange hair), and 2 shepherd dogs.

The last phone message came from Matmata, they were on the south, possibly towards the border area Algeria, - the exact route is unknown, however.

Getting there was Genoa - Tunis on 9.2.2008
29.2.2008 planned return trip - but they were not on the ferry and have also been since 18.2 Not reported

The embassies in Algeria, Tunisia and Libya were alerted.

If anyone both in Tunisia or Algeria after 18.2. encounters them, then please immediately report to me, the moderator or the embassies! Please also says friends decision on the recently there were, are or will be...

Each tip can be helpful!

-----------------Details:
1st Wolfgang is actually each year in the Sahara, and I would find him already as described.
2nd No, as far as I know, he had no Satphone
3rd Yes, PC-based GPS navigation
4th We do not know his relatives probably not. Maybe he is there without permission or direction Algeria has been on the
5th He eventually something of a fort "Fatima" or "Fatma" said that he wanted to show his girlfriend - who knows that?
6th Yes, if they were taken in Algeria, I also think that it would be known that - on the other hand Algeria will certainly not fuss because of "lost tourists." The message is, in any case.
7th With the distances in Tunisia is true - it is assumed that both have good foot. If it was an accident, in which both were set battle except perhaps in a little traffic route or outside of it, which also helps.

Post replies and information here please.

[xfiltrate]

This info gathered via a remote viewing session. Take it or leave it, but I had to try. I am better than average but certainly not 100% all the time.

I believe They went caravanning into desert, after Matmata about 150-175 K oases, or further in direction of TOZEUR some reason they are without their own cloths, dressing as locals? Fuel problem of some kind, keeps jamming in. Not absolutely sure about this at all.

My advice immediate contact with Berbers between Matmata and KEBILI, DOUZ or as far as TOZEUR indicated. Contact should be done in a manner conforming to Berber culture and language. Someone should spend some effort here. Wish I was there!

Grant, please post at PEACE CORPS TUNISIA Peace Corps Online | Tunisia

I am sure there are PEACE Corps Volunteers in the area I suggest they are.

Grant, important contact could be Wisconsin Governor JIM DOYLE, he is a returned Peace Corps Volunteer who served in Tunisia. He will have contacts into Peace Corps staff in country.

xfiltrate Hope this helps... xfiltrate

[Ulrich]

Hello,

here an link to an poster of the missings (also as download in PDF avaiable):

disparus au Sahara tunesien

There ist to found the mail-adress and phone-number of the son from Wolfgang Ebner.



Best regards

Ulrich

[xfiltrate]

Please post an update for the missing couple. Thanks xfiltrate

[Ulrich]

Hello xfiltrate,

they are not found till now. The tunisian military and police is searching for them.

Regards

Ulrich

[uk_vette]

Thats worrying now !

[Chris Scott]

Qaeda's North Africa wing says holding Austrian tourists | International | Reuters

[Walkabout]

There is more about this in here, including details of the unfortunate captives:-
http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hub...-tunisia-33542

Someone will be along soon to tell us that Al-Q is a figment of imagination or a media invention or ............I guess these two Austrians wish it were.

[mafra]

edit.

[Richard Washington]

The main thread for updates on the abductions seems to be in the travellers advisories section of the Hubb:

http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hub...-tunisia-33542

So this reply isn't bringing any news about the event.

But I did want to ask a few questions which may be of interest to the Sahara travellers.

Assuming the abductions happened in Tunisia and that the group is now in Mali, I have been wondering why the abductions happened in Tunisia in the first place. It is difficult to get a group that big involving at least 3 vehicles all the way through Algeria without the possibility of detection. It is certainly harder to do this than it is to abduct a group making their way from Tam to Mali in any case. We spent a few days in Tam just after new year. In that time 3 separate groups of European tourists (one involving a BBC journalist) headed down the piste to Mali. So why take these people in Tunisia when there are easy picking rolling through anyway? Is it simply to make a mark on Tunisian tourism? If so, there must be easier ways to make that mark operationally than this. And if it is simply about having a go at Europeans in Tunisia (in doing so making it clear that holiday destinations are risky) then is it not possible that Morocco is on the list too?

A difference between this event and 2003 seems to be that the news of the abductions has happened relatively quickly and that therefore only 2 people seem to have been taken. More could presumably have been taken given time but making the abductions known reduces the chances of that. Is this because the logistics of taking of 32 or 33 in 2003 was too difficult and that 2 are as good politically as 32? And does nationality within Europe make any difference? Is there significance attached to Austria? Is the response of the Austrian government known to be different?

[Chris Scott]

As you know all tourists in Alg have an escort now and possibly an itinerary lodged somewhere. Grab them there and the alarm is raised sooner I imagine. Although some concerned emails were knocking about in Feb these guys were missing in Tuni for two weeks before the alarm was fully raised on the web (once their boat has been missed?) - and were only declared kidnapped 6 days ago.
IMO Tuni is a softer border with Alg compared to Maroc (long time closed and mutual antagonists) and also the adjacent area of NE Algeria is a long established GSPC/AQ-M region (cf. that attack north of El Oued a few weeks ago.) Picking them out of the lonely Grand Erg was the way to do it, not off the Touzeur road.

It is difficult to get a group that big involving at least 3 vehicles all the way through Algeria without the possibility of detection

This is what I always think but maybe we dont get it: after all you drove thru Alg checkpoints at night unchallenged in your recent S-File report, smugglers seem roam around and the GSPC managed (or were allowed to do) a similarly vast transit in 2003 somehow.
It may well be that, like that 'technical' in the Gilf or that attack on a patrol near Gallaouia (sp.) east of Guelb in Mori (just after the French were killed) that they are prepared to shoot their way out. TBH I've never seen a well armed patrol in the Alg desert - just the odd green & white on the piste and well-known checkpoints with AKs.
I always imagine some 'Syriana' spy satellite could pick them out and track them but only once they know someone was missing.

that 2 are as good politically as 32?
I guess it is. I head last time there was a fall out with two GSPC-ers about making a small or large statement. Plan B won the day.

And does nationality within Europe make any difference?
I also heard that french tourists were passed by in 2003 - but possibly because the groups were too large or could it be that Fr reaction would be more direct.

Is there significance attached to Austria?
Dont know - wrong place at the wrong time? I just hope the threatened deadline due right now passes without event.

Ch

[Richard Washington]

It is possible to transit Algeria undetected and if these guys are in Mali - then they've proved again that it can be done.

But it is still much, much, much easier to nab some tourists on the lawless Mali side of Bordj Moktar once they have checked out of Algeria and the guides have returned to Tam. From Bodj to wherever they might be (near Kidal?) is a whole lot closer than from Tunisia to Mali. So what this tells me is that they specifically wanted to take people from Tunisia. Why could this be?

[silver G]

Wasn't one of their demands for the release of prisoners in Tunisia? Kidnaping in Tunisia would focus attention there.

I wondered if there was any significance in the vehicle being a Land Rover which could possibly point to British tourists?

[Roman]

Originally Posted by Richard Washington

So what this tells me is that they specifically wanted to take people from Tunisia. Why could this be?

Richard,

One more point that can be made about this incident is that because it happened so close to the border between Tunisia and Algeria, the Tunisian government could immediately issue a statement to the effect that "Until now there is no element that proves that the two Austrian citizens are in Tunisian territory or that they were kidnapped inside Tunisian borders."

This absolved the Tunisian authorities from raising the level of security threat in their territory (and scare all tourists), the Algerians have a clean record because everybody believes (except the Tunisians) that they had not been involved, and as for Mali, the Libyans may have been offered another chance to demonstrate, if they have the time, their good intentions towards the West.

[donncha]

Story here

BBC NEWS | World | Africa | Tuareg rebels attack Mali convoy



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