David Cameron has tried to shame France, Spain and Italy because they are suspected of conniving in ransom payments, saying they were helping Islamic State terrorists to “wreak havoc”.
The prime minister upbraided allies at the Nato summit in Wales last night during a working dinner for failing to stick to an agreement signed last year not to make the payments to terrorist groups for hostages.
Although Britain and the US have stuck to the deal, announced at the G8 summit in Northern Ireland, Mr Cameron has said others had yet to be “good to their word”.
The freeing of an Italian hostage taken at the same time as David Haines, the British aid worker whose life is threatened, has increased suspicions that ransoms are still being paid.
Federico Motka, an Italian working for a French aid agency was released in May this year.
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Speaking before a dinner with Nato leaders, where the prime minister was planning to confront those still paying ransoms, he said: “What matters is not your signature on a declaration but not letting money be paid to terrorist kidnappers because that money goes into arms. It goes into weapons, it goes into terror plots, it goes into more kidnaps. It is utterly self-defeating. It is worse than self-defeating, it is actually a risk to us at home.”
“I’m in no doubt that when countries have allowed ransoms to be paid, that has ended up in terrorist groups — including this terrorist group — having tens of millions of dollars that they can spend on kidnapping other hostages, in preparing terrorist plots, including against us here in the UK and in buying arms and weapons to wreak havoc.”
The communiqué agreed by world leaders at the G8 group in Northern Ireland last year stated that they “unequivocally reject the payment of ransoms to terrorists” and said that existing UN resolutions obliged governments to “prevent the payment of ransoms, directly or indirectly, to terrorists.”
Mr Cameron admitted to MPs on Wednesday that it was not being observed. “At the G8, I launched an initiative to try to get other countries to sign up to a very clear doctrine that in the case of terrorist kidnap, no ransom should be paid,” he said during prime ministers’ questions.” Britain continues with this policy; America continues with this policy; but we need to redouble the efforts to make sure that other countries are good to their word.”
It is estimated that Islamic State has raised tens of millions of dollars in ransom payments in return for western hostages, with the French, Italian and Spanish governments being regarded as the least likely to prevent payments.
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Mr Cameron’s spokesman said that he intended to raise the issue with the leaders during the dinner last night. “He will talk about the importance he attaches to the approach that was set out in the Lough Erne G8 communiqué last year,’’ he said. “He will be raising that with all the leaders who are around the table at the working dinner.”
Mr Cameron will have the support of the US. President Obama shares his opposition to the payments.