Chandler hostage takers warn the couple could be sold to al-Qaeda

Published: 6:35PM GMT 05 Feb 2010

Paul Chandler (L) being examined by Somali doctor Abdi Mohamed Helmi 'Hangul' Photo: GETTY

Mr and Mrs Chandler from Tunbridge Wells in Kent, have been held apart in makeshift camps to make any rescue attempt more difficult.
The couple, aged 60 and 56, were shown separately on television last week looking gaunt and exhausted and shortly afterwards were allowed a brief meeting.

 

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"We brought them together a few days ago," said Abdullahi Dhagaweyne, a commander of the pirate gang holding the Chandlers. "I think they had some kindhearted meeting and enjoyable moments after more days of separation. We are going to bring them together again soon.
"When we separated them again the woman was shrieking."
Mr Dhagaweyne, who spoke from Haradheere, the pirate town on the central Somali coast where the couple have been kept, warned the gang was "losing patience" and could sell them to al-Qaeda-linked factions.
He said: "I cannot confirm that they will forever be in our hands if no ransom is paid, there might be another decision in the future."
A sale to Somalia's radical al-Shabaab militia, which has been linked to al-Qaeda, is a potential alternative to a ransom payment which the Chandlers relatives and friends cannot afford.
"There are negotiations by phone these days, but no tangible developments yet," he said. "No government has called us, only families and other so-called negotiators.
"We may sell [the Chandlers] to anyone who pays us the money we want, if we don't get ransom in the future."Meanwhile it has emerged that the Chandlers were warned not to sail the route on which the Lynn Rival which cuts across pirate passages."I told them again and again, we all told them, that they should not go to Tanzania," said Andre Hoarau, the manager of the Seychelles Yacht Club.There had been multiple reports of pirate activity that the club manager passed on.Mr Chandler said he knew the risks, but he would take as southerly a route as he could, far from Somalia, he added. "They said they just had to see the Tanzania coast, that it was too beautiful to miss. No-one has used that route since they were kidnapped," he said.Two club members at a table nearby, one Seychellois and one British, agreed that the Chandlers had made a mistake."It was a misjudgment, they didn't heed the advice of people here," said the British man, who did not want to be named."No way would I wish upon anyone what's happened to them, but at the same time it'll be hard for them to argue that they didn't know the risks."