MARCH 10, 2012 BY AGENCY REPORTER
Italian President Giorgio Napolitano | credits: File copy
It is “inexplicable” the United Kingdom did not tell Rome of a bid to rescue a Briton and an Italian held in Nigeria, Italian President Giorgio Napolitano says, the British Broadcasting Corporation reported on Friday.
Islamist militants took Chris McManus, 28, of Oldham, and Franco Lamolinara hostage in north-west Nigeria last May.
The engineers died as Nigerian and UK forces tried to free them on Thursday.
UK Defence Secretary Philip Hammond said Rome had been told of intelligence behind the rescue attempt and informed “as the decision was taken to act.”
Mr. Napolitano said the British government needed to explain why it did not inform the Italian authorities ahead of the operation.
“The way the British government has behaved is quite inexplicable. To have failed to inform or consult Italy, with regard to a military action which could have such consequences,” he said.
“A clarification is needed on both the political and diplomatic levels.”
Hammond told the BBC News Channel that the attempted rescue had been launched after information was received that Mr McManus and Mr Lamolinara “were about to be moved – possibly executed.”
He said what had subsequently happened was “very unfortunate but it’s completely explicable”.
“These hostages were taken, they were held at an unknown location for very a long period of time despite extensive efforts to track them down. And when a window of opportunity became available, a well-trained Nigerian force with British support, went in and tried to rescue them,” he said.
“The Italian government was kept informed throughout the operation as the intelligence emerged and then as the decision was taken to act… I don’t think they specifically approved it – they were informed of what was happening.”
Number 10 said earlier that no official complaint had been received from the Italian government, and the UK had not made an apology.
It said the UK and Italy had been in contact ever since the men were kidnapped on 12 May, 2011.
Prime Minister David Cameron’s official spokesman said: “We contacted the Italians yesterday as the operation was getting under way, but this was a very fast-moving situation.
“Our priority was to respond to the situation on the ground and to do everything we could to try and secure the safe release of the hostages.”
In a statement announcing the operation and the deaths of Mr McManus and Mr Lamolinara, 48, Mr Cameron earlier also said the decision to act had been taken at very short notice.
“A window of opportunity arose to try and secure their release. We also had reason to believe that their lives were under imminent and growing danger.”
News of the operation broke in a statement from the office of Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti.
It used very similar language to that used by the British side but made it clear the Italians were told the military was being used only after the operation had started.
Mr. Monti chaired a meeting of a government security committee to discuss the failure of the attempt to rescue the hostages. The meeting ended after two hours without any comment being issued.
Commons Foreign Affairs Select Committee chairman Richard Ottaway said the UK was not duty-bound to tell Italy about the operation in the circumstances.
He told the BBC: “I can understand the concerns and frustrations of Italian politicians but I think they’ve got to accept and recognise that these are very fast-moving, delicate operations and it’s not always possible to keep politicians briefed in advance of what goes on.
Monti’s office said he had asked Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan to provide a “detailed reconstruction” of events as soon as possible.
Cameron’s spokesman said it was a Nigerian-led operation, with UK support involving the UK’s elite Special Boat Service. BBC reporter Haruna Shehu Tangaza, in Sokoto, described several hours of heavy fighting.
The house where the men were being held had been under surveillance for some time.
Cameron and Mr Jonathan said they believed the kidnappers had killed Mr McManus and Mr Lamolinara.
But an unnamed official from the Nigerian state security service quoted in local reports said the hostages died in the crossfire.
The Nigerian president described it as a “deeply sad and regrettable incident.”
Jonathan said that the men’s captors had been seized and “would be made to face the full wrath of the law.”
He said they were from militant Islamist group Boko Haram, which has carried out a number of attacks on police, politicians and clerics who oppose it.
Reports have emerged that a senior member of Boko Haram was captured on Tuesday, and he gave information which led forces to the house where the two construction engineers were being held.
SOURCE: The Punch, 10 March 2012. http://www.punchng.com/
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