Algeria crisis not over, says UK Foreign Office

(Vatican Radio) Despite the Algerian government’s claims that its military raid yesterday to end the hostage crisis at the gas plant was over, the UK's Foreign Office said this morning that “the terrorist incident remains ongoing.”

Algerian helicopters and special forces intervened in the hostage taking at the gas plant to wipe out Islamist militants and to free hostages, who come from at least 10 countries.

Furthermore, differing claims from the Algerian military and the militants have led to a poor understanding of the recent events and a conflicting number of dead.

According to early reports of Algeria’s official news agency, at least six people—Britons, Filipinos and Algerians—were killed. And while some Americans escaped, other Americans remain held or unaccounted for. About 600 local workers were safely freed, though many had been released the day before by the militants.

The militants, via a Mauritanian news website, claim that 35 hostages and 15 militants died and only seven hostages survived.

The U.S. government was in contact with American businesses across North Africa and the Middle East to help them guard against the possibility of copycat attacks.

The gas plant is a BP-operated site, near the border with Libya, 1,290 km from the Algerian capital, Algiers.

Algeria's communications minister, Mohand Said Oubelaid, told media the terrorists come from several countries with the goal of “destabilizing Algeria, embroiling it in the Mali conflict and damaging its natural gas infrastructure.”

Malian soldiers clashed with Islamist militants and French planes bombed on Thursday, as European foreign ministers agreed to speed up a training mission for the west African country’s army.

With a number of African countries engulfed by strife Vatican Radio's Sergio Centofanti asked the Archbishop of Accra in Ghana, Charles Palmer-Buckle about increased Islamic fundementalism in Africa and the role of the Church on the continent in bringing about peace and reconciliation. "Archbishop Palmer-Buckle says, "we have reason to worry yes at the growing fundementalism in the continent of Africa, but I think if we are being left alone to be able to solve these problems, we'll be able to solve these problems without much fear."

He also goes on to say that the Church in Africa is equiping lay men and women, politicans, and people in the economic and social spheres, so that they can help bring about reconciliation. Listen