RELATIVES today said their prayers had been answered after the release of three Romanian journalists in Iraq, while their Government denied paying any ransom or agreeing to pull out troops. The journalists and their guide were set free after a two-month hostage ordeal, the Romanian Government said overnight.President Traian Basescu said Romania hade made neither foreign policy concessions nor paid a ransom to secure their freedom and that a plane had been sent to bring them home. "I assure you that Romania negotiated neither its present and future foreign policy, nor paid a ransom," he said. | Outstanding, President Basescu. |
The Romanians, a woman and two men, were abducted on March 28 in a suburb of Baghdad, along with their guide, a businessman with both Iraqi and US citizenship. Their kidnappers, a group calling itself the Muadh Ibn Jabal Brigade, had at one point threatened to kill them if Romania refused to announce the withdrawal of its 860 troops from Iraq by April 27. The release was greeted with joy in Bucharest where the hostages' families, backed by Opposition parties, had desperately pleaded with the Government to heed the kidnappers' ultimatum. Mr Basescu had stood his ground on the Iraq troop presence during the crisis, with Foreign Minister Razvan Ungureanu pointing earlier in May to Romania's commitments under a UN Security Council resolution. Speaking before the release was announced, Defence Minister Teodor Atanasiu said it was "unlikely" that Romania would withdraw its troops from Iraq this year. "Romania is involved in different missions in Iraq, including training the Iraqi army, which is not yet ready to replace coalition troops," he was quoted as saying by Mediafax. "That is why a withdrawal during the course of the year is unlikely." Romania also has 500 soldiers deployed in Afghanistan as part of the US-led operation Enduring Freedom to flush out Islamic extremists.In late April, as the clock ticked down on the execution ultimatum, hundreds of Romanians had demonstrated in central Bucharest, urging the Government to withdraw its forces. |