Algeria hostage crisis: Wililam Hague statement

Algeria hostage crisis: Wililam Hague statement; AUSTRALIA: Sydney:INTWilliam Hague MP (Foreign Secretary) through foyer towardsWililam Hague press conference statement SOT- Goodmorning everyone- it's a great pleasure to be in Australia again on my third visit as Foreign Secretary- we have a lot of work to do with the Australian government- new treaty on defense cooperation- good work on cyber security.. increasing our diplomatic support- this is another stage in extending and intensifying the foreign policy and security cooperation between the two countries, that is developing well- I have been with many of the opposition leaders in Australia- they are all very enthusiastic about that agenda of working with the UK, - dangerous situation in Algeria- including British national.. a number of people are being held hostage that does appear to include British national- I can also confirm to the best of our knowledge - one British national has been killed- this is an absolute tragedy.. dangerous situation- the government's COBRA system is in full operation- I have spoken to our ambassador in Algeria and dispatched a rapid deployment team in Algeria to straighthen our embassy there- close contact with the government of Algeria, including the Prime Minister- we will continue to work closely with them over the coming hours- very focused on it- we will keep you informed of any developments(re THERE HAD BEEN WARNINGS - ARE YOU SURPRISED)- I don't think we should ever be surprised by the scale and persistence of terrorist attacks- this is why we do so much counter terrorism work around the world, why we work with so many countries- including in North West Africa- work in countries such as Algeria, Mauritania is another example- we always have that perspective on it- we would be cautious about ascribing this to the French intervention in Mali, convenient excuse to quote- usually operations like this take longer ...