Conflicting information about whereabouts of kidnapped Spanish aid workers

During the course of the day yesterday, various reports were released suggesting that the three kidnapped Spaniards had been found 100km to the north west of Akjout, in the country's inland region, and even that they had been released.

However, the Spanish ambassador in Nuakchot, Alonso Dezcállar, made it quite clear in a press conference that he had "no new information at the moment" and rejected outright the suggestion that the three aid workers had in fact already been released.

When asked by journalists whether he knew the whereabouts of the kidnapped Spaniards, Dezcállar responded ambiguously, saying he could "neither confirm or deny" this report, a response that gave a glimmer of hope to the remaining charity workers who had been travelling with the convoy when the jeep Albert Vilalta, Alicia Gámez and Roque Pascual were travelling was ambushed by armed men.

Whilst the other aid workers wait for news, the Mauritanian authorities are remaining silent about the situation and have only confirmed that they are working on a triple hypothesis:  that the kidnappers have moved into the desert, that they have hidden their hostages in a nearby town and that they are bandits rather than Al Qaeda terrorists.

Sources within the Mauritanian government have explained that the borders have been sealed, making it difficult for the kidnappers to have fled the country, despite the obvious permeability of the borders.

Spain has made its resources in Mauritania available to the authorities, including a helicopter and an aeroplane, but the ambassador was unable to say whether or not the African country had accepted the help.