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Africa North
France 'to seek Mali hostage talks'
2010-09-28
[Al Jazeera] France could seek negotiations with a branch of al-Qaeda that seized five French nationals and two other foreigners in Mali earlier this month, a presidential aide has said.
It gives them something to do while the Special Forces quarter the desert for something to hunt.
"We are ready to talk to the kidnappers," a front man from the office of Nicolas Sarkozy said on Sunday, referring to Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (Aqim).

The source, who was quoted by the AFP news agency, added that "we have every reason to think that the hostages are alive" and had been taken to Timetrine, a desert area near the Algerian border.

Members of Aqim seized the French nationals, along with a Togolese and a Madagascan, in a raid on September 16 on a uranium mining town in the deserts of northern Niger.

Earlier, a Malian source told AFP that he had seen the hostages and they were all alive. "They are even all able to stand up," he said. "Maximum discretion is needed. We are giving this information to reassure the families, but don't ask us any more."
On the other hand, it would be wise if the Malian source told the French Special Forces a great deal more, and quickly. The French have been known to take a different approach to such things.
Posted by:Fred

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