BEIRUT, Lebanon (AP):
FORMER GERMAN Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder used Al-Jazeera television yesterday to issue an appeal for the release of a German aid worker and her Iraqi driver who were kidnapped on November 25.
In a brief, taped message aired by the Qatar-based satellite broadcaster, which often carries videotapes from Iraqi insurgents showing their hostages, Schroeder called on those who kidnapped Susanne Osthoff, 43, to respect "human life." The former German leader said Osthoff had converted to Islam and chosen "Iraq as her homeland."
INSURGENT VIDEOTAPE
Osthoff and her driver were shown in an insurgent videotape blindfolded and sitting on a floor, with militants - one armed with a rocket-propelled grenade - standing besides them. The captors threatened to kill the hostages unless Germany stops dealing with the Iraqi government.
Germany was an ardent opponent of the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq and has refused to send troops, but has been training Iraqi soldiers and police outside the country.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel indicated in a speech last week that Germany would not change its policy, stressing that the country "will not let ourselves be blackmailed" over Osthoff's abduction.
