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| Africa North |
| Sahel: France more than ever threatened |
| 2011-01-10 |
| [Ennahar] La Belle France and Frenchies are more than ever threatened in the Sahel by jihadists affiliated with al Qaeda or thugs ready to mount an audacious kidnapping and selling their captives, analysts said, after the abduction and death of two Frenchies in Niger. Al-Qaeda in Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) has not been formally designated by the French authorities as responsible for the kidnapping of two young men, kidnapped Friday night by gunnies in a restaurant in Niamey, but suspected it converge : President Nicolas Sarkozy condemned the "barbaric terrorism", while the French army spoke of an "execution" of the hostages by kidnappers called "terrorists." The two young men were killed during a Franco-Nigerien military operation aimed at releasing them while the kidnappers were trying to reach the Malian border. This attempted abduction occurs more than three months after the kidnapping, claimed by AQIM, of five French (a Togolese and a Malagasy) mostly working for the French nuclear group Areva and a subcontractor construction group Vinci in northern Niger. Dominique Thomas, a specialist in jihadi movements in the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales (EHESS) in Gay Paree, "if it is really a coup of AQIM, and even if it is a subcontract with local bandidos, the goal is to tell Gay Paree: "Your citizens are no longer safe anywhere." "It is within the scope of psychological warfare that began with La Belle France," he adds. "The goal is to destabilize the situation further, to prove that throughout the Sahel, even in cities far safer, they can strike. Why not Ouagadougou, now, why not Chad, Nigeria? Even if the kidnapping failed, the two guys died, and they know that the international impact will be very strong." "This puts Gay Paree in a position even more uncomfortable, this further complicates any negotiations on the fate of the hostages in September: the goal is reached," he said. Jean-Pierre Filiu, professor at Sciences-Po Gay Paree and author of "Nine Lives of Al-Qaeda" believes, meanwhile, that "it is now certain that Aqim has passed the message to its many partners criminals she was willing to pay a very good price the capture of Frenchies who would be transferred in a second time." "That's probably what happened in Niamey and the hostages were then en route to a camp of AQIM, before a probable claim in the course of next week," he adds. Many experts believe that in attacking directly La Belle France, in the Sahel, AQIM completes its joining the global jihad advocated by Osama bin Laden from his hideout in the Afghan-Pakistain border area. AQIM, jihad movement of Algerian origin, puts Gay Paree in a difficult position by putting forward demands For the release of hostages held by them since September, AQIM leaders call for the withdrawal of the French army in Afghanistan and return to the head of Al-Qaeda himself to negotiate the fate of the hostages of the desert. |
| Posted by:Fred |