Crisis team held consultations on latest developments and return to Austria

Vienna, 1 November 2008 – Today, the crisis team held consultations on the latest developments following the release of Andrea Kloiber and Wolfgang Ebner of Salzburg, who are already on a flight home to Austria. This morning in Bamako, Andrea Kloiber and Wolfgang Ebner were handed over by the President of Mali, Amadou Toumani Toure, to the Austrian delegation led by Foreign Minister Ursula Plassnik. A first medical check-up and a meeting between Plassnik and the released couple had already taken place during the night.

Wolfgang Ebner and Andrea Kloiber are asking the public to allow them to return to their home country in privacy and without media attention. They have explicitly requested to first recover from the trials and tribulations they were exposed to over the recent months and undergo medical care. According to the team of Austrian doctors Ebner and Kloiber are doing well under the circumstances.

Contact:
Federal Ministry for
European and International Affairs
Press Department
Tel.: ++43 (0) 50 1150-3262, 4549, 4550
abti3(at)bmeia.gv.at