kenyan105
01-02-2007, 11:15 AM
GAZA CITY (AFP) - Palestinian security forces in Gaza are searching for AFP photographer Jaime Razuri, a day after his abduction, with Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas saying he expected a prompt release.
"We're sure he will soon be released. In past incidents of this kind, hostages have been freed after one or two days," Abbas told a delegation from AFP, the French consulate and the Peruvian embassy in Tel Aviv at a meeting in his Gaza office on Tuesday.
"We are determined to end this affair. It's not the first time that this has happened," Abbas said, adding that he had instructed security officials to work on the release of the Peruvian national.
In the latest in a string of foreigner abductions, several unmasked gunmen abducted Razuri at the entrance to AFP's offices in the centre of Gaza City on his return from an assignment with a translator and a driver.
But more than 24 hours after the abduction, AFP still had no information on the identity or motives of Razuri's captors.
The Palestinian interior ministry condemned the abduction.
"We ask the abductors to immediately free the captured journalist and to maintain what will serve the national interest of the Palestinian people," a statement said Tuesday.
Meanwhile, the French government joined appeals for Razuri to be freed.
"At this time, we have no specific indications about Mr Razuri's condition," foreign ministry spokesman Jean-Baptiste Mattei said in Paris.
AFP Chairman and CEO Pierre Louette expressed his "very great concern" and said all the necessary measures had been taken to help free Razuri as soon as possible.
"Those whose job is to report, in text and photos, the most difficult situations around the world can't be used and taken hostage," Louette said.
"They are witnesses, and must not become pawns."
Razuri has covered stories for AFP in Latin America, the Middle East and Europe, including a three-month stint in Iraq in 2006.
Peru's foreign ministry said it had asked the Palestinian National Authority to carry out "the investigation and the necessary actions to, in first place, certify the health conditions of Mr Razuri".
Peru said it had also received "immediate support" from Israeli officials to help find Razuri.
Media watchdog Reporters Without Borders called for the rapid release of the 50-year old photographer and criticised Palestinian authorities for failing to stem the increasing number of Gaza abductions.
"It is unacceptable that the government and the president don't act to arrest and punish those who carry out these abductions," the Paris-based organisation said on its website (www.rsf.org).
Six foreign journalists were kidnapped in the Gaza Strip in 2006, the watchdog said, adding that all were released swiftly and safely, apart from a crew from the US Fox News network who were held for two weeks.
Around 20 foreigners, including journalists, have been kidnapped in more than a year in Gaza.
Journalists no longer feel safe in the Gaza Strip for fear of getting caught in Israeli gunfire or score-settling between the Palestinian Hamas and Fatah parties, Reporters Without Borders said.
http://uk.news.yahoo.com/02012007/323/search-continues-abducted-afp-photographer.html
"We're sure he will soon be released. In past incidents of this kind, hostages have been freed after one or two days," Abbas told a delegation from AFP, the French consulate and the Peruvian embassy in Tel Aviv at a meeting in his Gaza office on Tuesday.
"We are determined to end this affair. It's not the first time that this has happened," Abbas said, adding that he had instructed security officials to work on the release of the Peruvian national.
In the latest in a string of foreigner abductions, several unmasked gunmen abducted Razuri at the entrance to AFP's offices in the centre of Gaza City on his return from an assignment with a translator and a driver.
But more than 24 hours after the abduction, AFP still had no information on the identity or motives of Razuri's captors.
The Palestinian interior ministry condemned the abduction.
"We ask the abductors to immediately free the captured journalist and to maintain what will serve the national interest of the Palestinian people," a statement said Tuesday.
Meanwhile, the French government joined appeals for Razuri to be freed.
"At this time, we have no specific indications about Mr Razuri's condition," foreign ministry spokesman Jean-Baptiste Mattei said in Paris.
AFP Chairman and CEO Pierre Louette expressed his "very great concern" and said all the necessary measures had been taken to help free Razuri as soon as possible.
"Those whose job is to report, in text and photos, the most difficult situations around the world can't be used and taken hostage," Louette said.
"They are witnesses, and must not become pawns."
Razuri has covered stories for AFP in Latin America, the Middle East and Europe, including a three-month stint in Iraq in 2006.
Peru's foreign ministry said it had asked the Palestinian National Authority to carry out "the investigation and the necessary actions to, in first place, certify the health conditions of Mr Razuri".
Peru said it had also received "immediate support" from Israeli officials to help find Razuri.
Media watchdog Reporters Without Borders called for the rapid release of the 50-year old photographer and criticised Palestinian authorities for failing to stem the increasing number of Gaza abductions.
"It is unacceptable that the government and the president don't act to arrest and punish those who carry out these abductions," the Paris-based organisation said on its website (www.rsf.org).
Six foreign journalists were kidnapped in the Gaza Strip in 2006, the watchdog said, adding that all were released swiftly and safely, apart from a crew from the US Fox News network who were held for two weeks.
Around 20 foreigners, including journalists, have been kidnapped in more than a year in Gaza.
Journalists no longer feel safe in the Gaza Strip for fear of getting caught in Israeli gunfire or score-settling between the Palestinian Hamas and Fatah parties, Reporters Without Borders said.
http://uk.news.yahoo.com/02012007/323/search-continues-abducted-afp-photographer.html