Now Lebanon - Where are the Estonians? - April 20, 2011

Talking to Foreign Minister Urmas Paet

Matt Nash, April 20, 2011  

In his second trip to Lebanon since the March 23 kidnapping of seven Estonians, Urmas Paet, Estonia’s foreign minister, says Lebanese authorities are working hard but have scant information on the whereabouts of his country’s nationals. The seven men first came to Lebanon on March 15, then rode their bicycles into Syria three days later, where they stayed until returning to Lebanon on March 23, TIME magazine reported. Two white vans and a Mercedes pulled up to the cyclists in the Bekaa Valley shortly after they re-entered Lebanon through the Masnaa border crossing, and armed men jumped out and kidnapped the Estonians, leaving their bicycles on the side of the road. Initial reports suggested they were taken to a camp run by the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command.However, Lebanese authorities conducted raids in and around the West Bekaa town of Majdal Anjar in late March and early April. They arrested seven people, and on April 8 a judge charged 11 Lebanese nationals – the seven in custody and four in absentia – with the crime. But acting Interior Minister Ziad Baroud has said it is unclear if the Estonians are still in Lebanon as they could have been smuggled through the porous border with Syria. On April 5, a previously-unknown group, Harakat al-Nahda wa al-Islah (the Movement for Renewal and Reform), sent an email to the Lebanon Files website claiming to have the Estonians, who were reportedly in good health. Attached to the email were scanned copies of three of the victims’ ID cards. The group said it would make demands later, and sent one subsequent email asking for ransom money, without specifying a sum.
On Wednesday, April 20, a YouTube video of the seven hostages began circulating in which they asked for help from Prime Minister Saad Hariri, Saudi King Abdullah, Jordanian King Abdullah, and French President Nicolas Sarkozy.
Minister Paet spoke with NOW Lebanon on April 19, the day he arrived in Lebanon for the second time, about the ongoing investigation.

You met with numerous Lebanese officials today. What is the latest news you’ve heard?

Urmas Paet: The main latest news, what I’m really convinced of after today’s meetings, is that Lebanese authorities take this investigation very seriously. That all, also, very thin lines or pieces of information have been investigated, and this investigation continues. They are also looking still for one person who may be the bridge between the criminals who committed the crime – some of whom have been arrested – to those to whom the Estonian citizens were most probably delivered. The work continues. It continues also with partners in other countries. The Lebanese president today and the minister of interior both said very clearly that it is still a very important issue for Lebanon to find out who did it and why.
It has been reported that you’re in touch with Syrian authorities also. What contacts do you have, and what have the Syrians said?

Paet: We are and we have been in direct contact with many countries in the region, including Syria, and Syrian authorities promised also to deliver information or assistance if they can and if they have something, so that this contact during the past week has been permanent and regular. But we also know the internal political situation in Syria is also quite turbulent. So that it’s also clear that the first priority for their authorities and also intelligence agencies is their internal situation. But I think if the Syrians can assist, they will.
What other countries have you been in touch with?

Paet: We have had very active contacts with Turkey also, with Palestinian authorities. Also, I have spoken about it with the United Arab Emirates.
What role are they playing?

Paet: The most important issue still is collecting and getting information about this issue… using all possible connections, networks, sources of information from all these countries, but also embassies. It’s obvious that every embassy has their own contacts, friends and networks on the ground. So that in essence, [we are] trying to use every possible contact and network.
Do you think the kidnapped men are still in Lebanon?

Paet: It’s very difficult to say. Actually people who work with this issue every day here on the ground, also, they can’t tell. For me, of course, it’s difficult to say without any real facts. So that it’s possible they’re still here. It’s possible they’re in Syria, but you can also not avoid the possibility that they may be in some third country.
Have you heard anything more from Harakat al-Nahda wa al-Islah (the Movement for Renewal and Reform), which claimed responsibility for the crime?

Paet: No. That’s it. These two public emails that were published by Lebanon Files, that’s it. So there’s no additional proof or evidence, for example, about what they said in their emails, if it’s true or not or if it has some adequate basis. Nothing more.
Do you have any idea what the motive of this crime was?

Paet: Well, there have been many versions and speculations. Some of them seem to be more unlikely, some of them absolutely possible, if I may say so. But to say this one and concrete motive is the right one is impossible because we simply don’t know yet. We may analyze this or that, but we don’t know yet.
What are the next steps in the investigation?

Paet: Let’s see. The important next step is still the process. It means that every day’s work, trying to get and collect information, updating all of our networks, all of our partners’ networks – Lebanon, other countries in the region. There are two options. One is that through this work of finding information, someone finds something [concrete], whether this is Lebanon or other partners or whoever. The other option is the people who did this send a message which is more concrete than the previous ones.