Looks like a ransom was paid to the goons who held the European "adventure tourists" (read: people who like driving across the godforsaken desert in vans and motorcycles) in the Sahara. One Swiss paper says the whole thing makes the Algerian government look pretty bad. Yep, you know you're doing something wrong when you have to call in Khadafi to sort out these types of problems. Schroeder made no mention of Libya's role.

This whole affair has been murky and mysterious for the beginning. It took months for anybody to even get around to issuing a random demand. I wrote about the issue for Slate when the first bunch of hostages were released in May. Released -- that's not really the right word. They were rescued in a commando raid. After that, I imagine things must have gotten a bit hairy for those left behind, although they say they weren't terribly mistreated. Strange.