(19 Jan 2013)
SOUNDBITE: (English) William Hague, UK Foreign Secretary:
"Yes, this morning I chaired a meeting of COBRA (Cabinet Office Briefing Room A), the government's emergency committee, dealing with the events at the gas installation plant in Ain Amenas, in Algeria. This situation is still going on. It remains a very difficult and dangerous situation. Of course our priority remains the welfare and safety of British nationals caught up in this incident. The large majority of British nationals originally caught up in it are now safe and accounted for. As you'll recall, on Thursday there were about 30 British nationals at risk. The Prime Minister (David Cameron) explained yesterday that that number had been significantly reduced. As of now there are fewer than 10 British nationals at risk or unaccounted for, but that of course means that we must continue to prepare ourselves for bad news. And we are in touch with the families of all of those individuals and indeed we are of course giving all the help and assistance we can to all of the families of all of the individuals caught up in this terrible ordeal. I have just spoken to the foreign minister of Algeria to impress upon him the continued need for accurate and up to date information, and to give us all the assistance possible on the ground in Algeria. And in that regard I'm happy to say that we now have consular staff on the ground at Ain Amenas, they are already assisting British nationals there, our Ambassador is on the way there with further staff and of course we have a team at Hassi Messaoud, the normal point for entering and exiting this area. The Prime Minister will speak to the Prime Minister of Algeria (Abdelmalek Sellal) later this afternoon. I will chair a further meeting of COBRA later this afternoon, and this whole incident underlines the scale and ruthlessness of the terrorist threat that we and other nations face. We underline our resolve to deal with that and to defeat such terrorism and murder, working with allies across the world and including in North Africa."
(Q: Have you made further offers of assistance to the Algerians because the Prime Minister was talking about those offers in the (House of) Commons, and up til that point they had been turned down?)
"Well, we have made offers of assistance, the Prime Minister in the past few days has made those offers of assistance. The Algerians have dealt with this situation themselves, they are continuing to deal with it themselves, and so we're working with them in the ways that I've described."
(Q: And presumably British special forces are on standby or are they involved already?)
"Well we don't talk about the disposition or presence of special forces. But this has been and remains an Algerian operation, and our priority, as I've explained, is the safety and welfare of our nationals. We continue to work hard on that. OK, thank you very much."
STORYLINE:
Britain's foreign secretary William Hague said on Saturday that "fewer than 10" British nationals are still at risk or unaccounted for in the hostage standoff in Algeria.
But he said that "of course means that we must continue to prepare ourselves for bad news."
Hague said the "large majority" of British nationals originally involved are now safe.
The UK Foreign Office was in touch with the families of all of the British nationals still at risk, and was providing support and assistance to "all of the families of all of the individuals caught up in this terrible ordeal", he said.
It said 11 militants and seven hostages were killed.
Hague made no comment on the latest Algerian military attack.
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