by Philippe Sauvagnargues
ROME, Sept 9 (AFP) - A junior Italian minister headed for the Middle East on Thursday to seek help from Arab governments in securing the release of two female aid workers held hostage in Iraq amid mounting efforts to present a united front at home.
The Italian opposition continued to show unprecedented support for the government in its efforts to safely end a kidnapping that Italians see as particularly odious in that it concerns two women volunteers working on behalf of Iraqi children.
Junior foreign minister Margherita Boniver left on Thursday for Egypt, Lebanon, Jordan, Yemen and Syria to seek the help of those countries in freeing charity workers Simona Pari and Simona Torretta. The two women, both 29, were snatched from their Baghdad office on Tuesday.
Boniver is to meet officials and women's groups "to raise awareness in the Arab world about how monstrous the kidnapping of these two women was."
Her mission comes ahead of Rome talks Friday between Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi and visiting Iraqi President Ghazi Al-Yaouar, scheduled to focus on aid and economic issues but likely to be devoted partly to the situation of the kidnapped aid workers.
There was still no news of the women early on Thursday and no credible claim from the kidnappers had been received.
Italian daily newspaer Corriere della Sera said the kidnappers could be former Iraqi intelligence agents.
"Their modus operandi closely resembles that of (former president) Saddam Hussein's special intelligence teams," it said.
The kidnapping of the two women, aid workers with the non-government agency Un Ponte per Baghdad (A Bridge to Baghdad), comes two weeks after the execution by extremists in Iraq of Italian journalist Enzo Baldoni.
The Rome goverment was severely criticised for not doing enough to save Baldoni's life and the new hostage-taking has sparked calls for national unity. Rallies in support of the women took place in Rome and Naples late on Wednesday.
"National unity to save them", the left of centre La Repubblica newspaper said on its front page on Thursday. "United to save the two Italian women," Corriere della Sera proclaimed.
On Wednesday the Italian opposition pledged to support the government in the crisis and, while reaffirming its opposition to last year's US-led invasion of Iraq, said it would not for the moment renew its call for the withdrawal of the 3,000 Italian soldiers operating there with the US-led coalition.
Luciano Violante, of the opposition Democrats of the Left, said in an interview with Corriere della Sera on Thursday that priority must be given to freeing the two women.
"We must show the country's unity. For the moment we are talking about the fight against terrorism. We will talk about the rest later," he said.
Italy's left-wing parties were bitterly opposed to Berlusconi's support for the US campaign in Iraq and want Rome to follow the lead set by Spain whose left-wing government, elected earlier this year, withdrew its troops from Iraq where they had been sent by the previous conservative government.
Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, speaking in Tunis Thursday, said he "radically condemned the sequestration of innocent people," a referrence to the Italian aid workers.
Baldoni's family and opposition leaders have accused Berlusconi and his right-wing government of failing to do everything possible to save the journalist's life and the authorities are now trying to associate the opposition with its efforts, as Paris has done in its bid to save two French journalists currently in captivity in Iraq.
Berlusconi's handling of the Baldoni kidnapping was unfavourably compared to the French government's reaction when its own hostage crisis erupted on August 20.
French Foreign Minister Michel Barnier was swiftly dispatched to the Middle East for negotiations to try to win their release. Although the journalists have yet to be freed, it is thought they are still alive.
Violante said Rome must "follow the French model -- make people aware of the women's real humanitarian mission and have visible contacts with the Arab governments in the region and with all Muslim organisations."