One Canadian and two Italian technicians, employees of an Italian company that manages maintenance work in the Ghat airport have recently been kidnapped in Libya.
Events
On September 19 2016, near Gath, a small town of Libya’s Fezzan region, close to the Algerian border, two Italian citizens and one Canadian were kidnapped: Bruno Cacace, 56 years old, from Borgo San Dalmazzo (Cuneo); Danilo Calonego, 66 years old, from Sedico (belluno); and Frank Boccia, a Canadian citizen who was with them. These engineers were working for Con.I.Cos (Constructions of International Contracts) of Mondovì and they were in Libya in order to do maintenance work at Ghat airport.
The details of the kidnapping as reported by an eyewitness suggest that all events took place on Monday morning. They were aboard a vehicle driven by a local interpreter, travelling between Ubari and Ghat, in the middle of the desert. The driver reports that near the el-Gnoun quarry, their car was stopped by two 4×4 jeeps, from which some shots were fired at them. They were forced to stop the vehicle. Suddenly a masked kidnapper got out of the car, forced the engineers to get in one of the jeeps and then drove quickly away. The mayor of the municipality of Ghat, Komani Mohamed Saleh, immediatelybroke the news about these events. As a result, an intelligence team from the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the AISE external information and security service, coordinated by an intelligence vice-director under orders from Alberto Manenti, the director of the AISE, has been sent from Italy to Libya.
Analysis
Of course the general situation around this particular event still requires a high level of confidentiality for the whole affair. It’s also desirable to have helpful attitudes in national and international public opinion concerning this story. These necessary premises create an “operational frame” in which the authorities might be able to operate to secure that the hostages are brought safely back home.
Following this premise, we can start to analyse the events and make hypotheses. There are many essential elements in this criminal event which cannot be neglected, and we have to consider them carefully.
Firstly: until two days before the kidnapping, the engineers were all under protection. This was removed only after a situational dispatch that decreased the general risk level for the area. This fact makes us think that the criminals knew the armed escort was going to be removed. Also, it’s clear that no-one could plan such an event in only two days: so the explanation could be that the engineers had been under surveillance many days prior to the incident taking place.
Secondly: The Ghat mayor, after he heard of the kidnapping, decided to break the news publicly. This behaviour excluded de facto any possibility of keeping the event secret. Furthermore, once the possibility of resolving the situation with a “flash-kidnapping” was lost, neither the engineers’ company nor the local authorities were able to conduct any private negotiations or secret agreements with the criminals. Therefore the intervention of the Foreign Ministry and all the national and international authorities in order to manage the situation has become a necessity. Komani Mohamed Saleh is a very charismatic mayor and he has a big influence on the Tuareg. He immediately started to coordinate all the actions of the tribes in order to close in on the trapped criminals and prevent any possibility of them fleeing the area. One of the most important things to avoid in such a situation is to prevent the kidnappers from being able to sell or exchange the hostages with other people. If they are sold to a terrorist group, their lives could be in danger. Salah said he probably knows who the kidnappers are: they are local criminals. He also said that in the past these people had been found guilty of assaults and robberies.
Thirdly: Danilo Calonego is a Muslim. He converted many years ago and he is married to a Muslim woman. This fact meant he was able to avoid another kidnapping in 2014 in the Libyan desert. Furthermore, the driver of the car in which the engineers were travelling wasn’t killed. So it becomes highly improbable that terrorists are responsible.
Fourthly: the geographic area in which the kidnapping took place. Ghat is a very important city due to its strategic position: it has an airport, it’s close to the Algerian border and it’s only 250 km from Niger. This whole area is one of the most important crossroads for weapons, drugs and people smugglers travelling from Sub-Saharan Africa to Europe. This particular situation may facilitate the selling of hostages. So the Italian authorities asked France to control activities along the Niger and Libya borders. This can be achieved by using French drones located in Madama French Air Force Base in Niger, where there are 4 reconnaissance drones.
Last but not least: it’s not an anti-Italian political action. The absence of any political claims and the involvement of a Canadian citizen point to there being no specific intention to hit Italian economic and political interests in the area.
Conclusion
Analysis of the data reveals that the event may be connected to a purely economic kidnapping. Probably it was organized and managed by local tribes that know the places, the people and how to act. Historically Italy has put saving hostages before its international policies. This is a very important factor in reading and interpreting this event correctly.
The intelligence and security activities managed by the Italian government in Libya are still excellent and are aiming to get a positive solution. But we have to keep in mind that Libya’s geopolitical and strategic situation is complicated.
General Haftar and his allies (France and Egypt) actually don’t like the Italian presence in Libya because Rome is still supporting the Tripoli government. This could be a serious obstacle for Italy and Tripoli’s activities in Fezzan. But if Italian diplomacy brings the necessary protection to security and intelligence activities in the area, in every likelihood the entire event will end on a quick and positive note.
