Austrian plane search for whistle-blower

UN ambassador accuses airport of 'kidnapping' president after delay

Bolivia's president left Europe for home on Wednesday after his flight was rerouted and delayed in Austria, allegedly because of suspicion he was trying to spirit NSA leaker Edward Snowden to Latin America.

The country accused Austria of "kidnapping" its president, Evo Morales, after authorities searched his plane in Vienna.

Morales lashed out at European countries for denying his jet entry into their airspace overnight, and dragging his country into the escalating US spying scandal.

"I am not a delinquent," Morales said at Vienna Airport where his plane was held up for more than 12 hours.

A senior Bolivian diplomat said the Austrians had acted at the bidding of the United States, which has been trying to get its hands on Snowden since he revealed details of its secret surveillance program last month.

"We're talking about the president on an official trip after an official summit being kidnapped," Bolivia's ambassador to the UN in New York, Sacha Llorenti Soliz, said in Geneva.

The Bolivian plane, which was bringing Morales home from an energy conference in Moscow, was stranded at Vienna airport for several hours after Portugal and France refused to allow it to fly through their airspace.

The search found that Snowden was not onboard and the plane eventually left Vienna at about noon on Wednesday.

The 30-year-old Snowden is believed to be still in the transit area of a Moscow airport, where he has been trying since June 23 to find a country that will offer him refuge from prosecution in the US on espionage charges.

The incident over Morales' plane was the latest twist in a saga which has raised a furor in the US and abroad over the balance between privacy rights and US national security.

Revelations of US surveillance on European countries have also strained trans-Atlantic relations.

Bolivian anger

Bolivia, which is part of a Venezuelan-led leftist bloc that has challenged US political and economic influence in Latin America, denounced the Austrian action as an act of aggression and violation of international law.

"We have no doubt that it was an order from the White House," Ambassador Llorenti said. "By no means should a diplomatic plane with the president be diverted from its route and forced to land in another country."

Besides, he said Latin American presidents have planned an emergency meeting.

"We have been told that an emergency meeting of Unasur (Union of South American Nations) is going to be held today," he said. No time for the meeting was mentioned.

"What's at stake here is ... the dignity of Bolivia and the dignity of Latin America," he said, adding that the presidents of Peru, Ecuador and Argentina had all spoken with Morales about the incident.

Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos told a news conference in Geneva that he had not received any request for such a meeting.

Bolivia will lodge a complaint at the United Nations.

Austria said however that Morales had agreed to a voluntary inspection of the plane. Deputy Chancellor Michael Spindelegger confirmed Snowden had not been on the plane.

"Our colleagues from the airport had a look and can give assurances that no one is on board who is not a Bolivian citizen," Spindelegger told reporters at the airport.

Bolivia is among more than a dozen countries where Snowden has sought asylum and Morales has said he would consider granting the US citizen refuge if requested.

But Snowden's options have narrowed since he arrived in Moscow from Hong Kong with no valid travel documents after the US revoked his passport.

Five countries have rejected granting Snowden asylum, seven have said they would consider a request if made on their soil, and eight said they had either not made a decision or not received a request.

US President Barack Obama has warned that an offer of asylum from a country would carry serious consequences.

Reuters-AP-AFP

(China Daily 07/04/2013 page12)