Fiji’s Ambassador to the United Arab Emirates Robin Nair says no ransom of $20 million was paid for the release 45 Fiji’s captured soldiers in the Golan Heights on September.
Nair’s says assurance on the release of the 45 Fijian peacekeepers was given by the Qatari Foreign Minister Dr Khalid Bin Mohammed Al Attiyah to Fiji’s Foreign Minister Ratu Inoke Kubuabola.
“While we were there they told us they’ll be giving us updates every hour as to what was happening and what progress was taking place which they did. And after meeting the Foreign Minister we sat in the hotel waiting for the news and we were updated and the next day they were released, so it was diplomacy and the access we had towards the leaders of the region and the acknowledgement and the regard they have for our government and for our troops for what they have been doing in that region since 1978.”
A Middle East based-newspaper, Asharq Al-Awsat had reported that Syrian opposition sources allegedly that Qatar paid militants from the Al-Nusra Front in Syria a ransom of $20m in return for the release of the 45 Fijian UN peacekeepers.
