Mali hostages released but pre-vote tensions linger

Six officials abducted in northern Mali have been released, officials said today, but tensions remained high as a homemade bomb was found in flashpoint city Kidal a week from a crucial presidential vote.
A Tuareg rebel leader has been arrested for ordering the seizure of the six hostages -- five election officials and a local elected representative -- in the northern town of Tessalit, an official in the Kidal region said a day after the brazen kidnapping.
"All those kidnapped on Saturday have been released and are doing well," the official told AFP.
He blamed the abduction on the National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (MNLA), a rebel group founded to fight for independence for Mali's minority Tuareg people.

"It was Baye Ag Diknane, an official of the MNLA, who ordered the abduction," he said, adding that the Tuareg rebel had been arrested and was under questioning.
An African military source in Kidal confirmed the hostages' release.

The six officials had been at the town hall in Tessalit, a remote outpost some 200 kilometres from key northern city Kidal, to plan the distribution of identity cards to voters for the July 28 election when they were abducted.
The hostages were blindfolded and driven "in a vehicle with the MNLA flag" for a distance of 150 kilometres, the military official said one of the victims had told investigators.

No one has claimed the kidnapping -- including the MNLA, which was immediately blamed by officials in Kidal and in the Malian security ministry.
The MNLA took control of Kidal in February after a French-led military intervention to oust Al-Qaeda-linked fighters who had seized control of most of northern Mali.
The Malian authorities finally reclaimed the city after signing a deal with the MNLA and another Tuareg group on June 18 aimed at reuniting the country and clearing the way for elections to restore democratic rule.
The kidnappings come after violence between the light-skinned Tuaregs and Mali's majority black population rocked Kidal on Thursday and Friday.

Officials said armed men went on a rampage Thursday, looting and ransacking shops and businesses, killing four people and wounding many others.
On Friday, unidentified arsonists set fire to the city's central market.
Kidal residents say Malian troops and UN peacekeepers have been on patrol and that calm has largely been restored.
But panic erupted this morning when a homemade bomb was found in the middle of the city, witnesses said.