January 12, 2010 - The Daily Star - Al-Qaeda threatens to kill French hostage in Mali

Al-Qaeda threatens to kill French hostage in Mali
Group demands ransom, release of jailed militants within 20 days

By Agence France Presse (AFP)

PARIS: The North African branch of Al-Qaeda threatened to execute a French hostage unless four of its militants were freed from jail in Mali in 20 days and a ransom was paid, two US monitoring groups said on Monday. Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) claimed last month it was holding Frenchman Pierre Camatte, who was seized in Mali in late November, as well as three Spaniards abducted in neighboring Mauritania four days later.
The US groups SITE Intelligence Group and Intelcenter, which monitor Islamist websites, said that Al-Qaeda issued its ultimatum in a statement dated January 10.

“The mujahideen have decided to inform the French and Malian governments of their only demand to release the French hostage Pierre Camatte – the release of our four prisoners apprehended by the state of ‘Mali’ many months ago,” Intelcenter quoted the ultimatum as saying.

“Let France and Mali be forewarned, that we give 20 days to fulfill our just demand, or the two governments shall be fully responsible for the life of the French hostage,” it said in a statement.

“We also call upon the French public opinion and the hostage’s family to pressure [French President Nicolas] Sarkozy’s government to prevent the repetition of [British Prime Minister] Gordon Brown’s folly against his British citizen,” it added.

The North African branch of Osama bin Laden’s terrorist network “is also demanding a ransom, a lot of money, to free the French hostage,” a source close to the negotiators, Pierre Camatte, said.

AQIM had claimed responsibility for the killing of British hostage Edwin Dyer who was executed in June, six months after being abducted in Niger, near the Mali border.

A security official in Mali said the four militants that AQIM wants freed were picked up months ago in the north of the country.

“Several months ago, we arrested four elements of AQIM in a search operation in the north,” the official told AFP on condition of anonymity.

“Among them, there is one person from Burkina Faso, two from Mauritania and an Algerian,” he said, without identifying them further.

Camatte, 61, was snatched from a hotel in Menaka in the Sahel region of northern Mali, more than 1,500 kilometers from the capital Bamako, during the night of November 25.

Malian and Western security forces say that he was a regular visitor to Mali, where he cultivates a plant known for its anti-malaria properties, and was being held by a hardline faction within Al-Qaeda’s North African branch.

AQIM claimed in a video released by pan-Arab television station Al-Jazeera in December that it was holding the four Europeans.

The three Spanish volunteers, two men and a woman, were travelling in Mauritania in a convoy delivering humanitarian aid to west Africa when they were kidnapped on November 29. They have been identified as Albert Vilalta, 35, Alicia Gamez, 35, and Roque Pascual, 50, working on behalf of Spanish group Barcelona Accio Solidaria.

Spain’s El Mundo newspaper reported last month that AQIM was demanding seven million dollars and the release of several of its members in return for the three Spaniards.

Meanwhile, Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos on Thursday ruled out paying any ransom for the release of the three.

A Mali security source said last month that the hostages were being held by a hardline faction of AQIM led by a man called Abou Zeid, who was said to have been behind the killing of the Briton.

AQIM has also claimed responsibility for the abduction of two Italians in Mauritania on December 18 and posted pictures on the Internet of the hostages, Sergio Cicala, 65, and Philomene Kabore, 39. – AFP