Wüstenschiff

Hostages: Peter Camatte said he recognized Abu Zeid on the picture
01.10.2010 - ennahar

A former French hostage to Al-Qaeda in Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) has recognized a photo released by the group, Abu Zeid one of the most radical leaders of this organization who has kidnapped seven people in Niger, he told AFP Friday ... mehr

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Special Reports
Algeria upset by French push on al-Qaida
05.10.2010 - UPI

ALGIERS -- France's self-declared war against al-Qaida's North African network is causing anxiety in a region where the former colonial power is still viewed with disdain and the ploy could backfire on French President Nicolas Sarkozy [...] Mokhtar Belmokhtar, the AQIM commander in the region covering the Sahara and the semi-arid Sahel region to the south, is believed to have close links to senior figures in Mali's government and military. He has even married into the local Tuareg clans to consolidate his alliances with the nomadic tribes who run smuggling operations across the region's porous borders [...] If the French, for all their war talk, end up buying the Areva captives' freedom, Algeria, and possibly other regional states, will be incensed ... mehr

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French Al-Qaeda hostage urgently needs medical aid: mediator
11.10.2010 - AFP

BAMAKO — A French woman seized with six other foreigners in Niger last month by an Al-Qaeda-linked group has cancer and urgently needs medical treatment, a Niger-based mediator told AFP on Sunday. "I have just returned from meeting the kidnappers in the desert where I met two members of the group who said the French woman hostage is sick and can't last much longer without medical treatment," the mediator said by satellite telephone ... mehr

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Abductors of French demand burqa ban withdrawn: TV
11.10.2010 - Reuters

DUBAI (Reuters) - Al Qaeda in North Africa demanded a repeal of France's ban on Muslim face veils, the release of militants and about 7 million euros to free five French hostages, Al Arabiya TV on Monday quoted sources saying. "The abductors have unrealistic demands which Mali and France and could not accept ... including withdrawing a ban on the face veil in France and the release of some of the group's elements detained in France, Mauritania and other countries," the television channel quoted unnamed informed sources saying. Initial contacts with Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) through local chiefs in Mali were "not encouraging" due to the nature of the demands, the sources told Al Arabiya ... mehr
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Entführer von Franzosen verlangen Rücknahme von Burka-Verbot
Nordafrikanische Al-Kaida will eine Million Euro pro Geisel
11.10.2010 - Standard

Dubai - Die Al-Kaida in Nordafrika hat die französische Regierung aufgefordert, das Burka-Verbot zurückzunehmen. Der Sender Al-Arabiya zitierte zudem auch Quellen, wonach zusätzlich die Freilassung von Militanten und rund sieben Millionen Euro Lösegeld gefordert wurden, damit fünf im Niger gekidnappte französische Geiseln sowie zwei Afrikaner freigelassen werden [...] Erste Kontakte zur Al-Kaida im Islamischen Maghreb (AQMI) via lokale Führer in Mali seien aufgrund der Art der Forderungen "nicht ermutigend" verlaufen, hieß es ... mehr


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Al-Qaida fordert Aufhebung des Burka-Verbots in Frankreich
Für die Freilassung von sieben entführten Mitarbeitern des Atomkonzerns Areva von einer Uran-Mine im Niger verlangt Al-Qaida im Islamischen Maghreb zudem 7 Millionen Euro
12.10.2010 - telepolis

Frankreich befindet sich im Krieg mit Al-Qaida, hatte der französische Außenminister im September gesagt, während sich das französische Militär an der Jagd auf Mitglieder von Al-Qaida im Islamischen Maghreb (AQIM) beteiligte. Es geht dabei vor allem auch darum, die französische Atomindustrie zu sicheren, die ein Viertel des Urans alleine aus dem Niger bezieht ... mehr
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France says has received no Qaeda hostage demands
12.10.2010 - Reuters

PARIS Oct 12 (Reuters) - France denied it had received any specific demands from al Qaeda's north African arm to release five French nationals kidnapped in September, an official at President Nicolas Sarkozy's office said on Tuesday [...] "There is no message from AQIM, there are no demands," the official at Sarkozy's office said ... mehr


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Das zuletzt von AQIM veröffentlichte Video der französischen Geiseln:

Download ca. 7,6 MB im Realplayerformat

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Alexander

AQIM: The seven hostages would be Dirkou in the north of Niger between Libyan and Chadian borders

The seven employees of the French company AREVA removed in early September at Arlit in northern Niger, five French, one of Togo and Madagascar, are still in the hands of their captors in the far north in a tri-border area Niger, Libya and Chad, we confirmed a knowledgeable source.
According to the same source, namely the two Africans Togo and Madagascar are treated well and unlike the expatriates will be released in the coming days. mehr...

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Alexander

Niger: Sieben von El Kaida entführte Ausländer noch am Leben

Sieben vor mehr als einem Monat im Niger entführter Ausländer, darunter fünf Franzosen, sind nach Angaben des nigrischen Übergangs-Regierungschefs Mahamadou Danda noch am Leben. mehr...

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Bin Laden rechtfertigt Entführung von Franzosen

Doha - Der Anführer des Terrornetzwerkes Al-Kaida, Osama bin Laden, hat die Entführung von fünf Franzosen im Niger als Reaktion auf das Burka-Verbot in Frankreich dargestellt. mehr...

Bin Laden kündigt Tötung von Franzosen an

Al-Qaida-Chef Osama bin Laden hat in einer Tonaufnahme konkrete Drohungen gegen Frankreich gerichtet. Er kündigte Vergeltung für das Engagement in Afghanistan und für das Burkaverbot an. Es handele sich um eine simple Gleichung: "Wenn ihr tötet, werdet ihr getötet." mehr...

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Alexander

Abu Zeid likely to release the French hostages, expert
01.11.2010 - El Khabar

Abu Zeid, also known as Abid Hammadou, who commands one of two squads of al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb is likely to become the new leader of AQIM after the death of the current leader, namely Abdelmalek Droukdel, alias Abu Musab Abdelouadoud. [...] In this context, the Swiss expert predicts a happy-ending of the French hostage crisis, detained by Abu Zeid in Mali. M. Guidere explained that Islamic Sharia prohibits the execution of hostages in case of the existence of negotiation cannels ... mehr

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The French hostages of AQIM, a cancer patient, received medication
12.11.2010 - ennahar

BAMAKO - The sick French hostage of Al Qaeda in Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), who suffers from cancer and has been detained since mid-September with four other French nationals, a Malagasy and a Togolese in north-eastern Mali, "received medication," told AFP Friday a very well informed Malian source ... mehr

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EXCLUSIF
OTAGES FRANÇAIS AU NIGER - L'amiral d'Arbonneau remercié par la P-DG d'Areva Anne Lauvergeon
16.11.2010 - Le Point

L'enlèvement de cinq Français et de deux employés africains d'Areva, en septembre dernier au Niger, a suscité une polémique sur les conditions de sécurité - ou d'absence de sécurité - entourant le centre d'extraction du groupe, absolument stratégique pour les approvisionnements de la France en uranium. Une mission d'audit a été confiée par Anne Lauvergeon, P-DG d'Areva et ancien "sherpa" du président François Mitterrand, à son dernier chef d'état-major particulier : le général Christian Quesnot ... mehr
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France's Sarkozy "very worried" about Mali hostages
16.11.2010 - Reuters

PARIS - French President Nicolas Sarkozy said Tuesday he was "especially worried" about a group of seven foreigners, including five French nationals, taken hostage in Niger last September. The French government says it has yet to receive any demands from the group that claimed the hostage-taking, a subsidiary of al Qaeda operating in the desert region of North Africa (AQMI). "I must tell you, I am especially worried about the hostages in Mali who were taken hostage by a band belonging to AQMI," Sarkozy said during a rare live interview on French television ... mehr

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France in touch with Al-Qaeda kidnappers: minister
17.11.2010 - AFP

PARIS — France said for the first time Wednesday that it was in touch with Al-Qaeda kidnappers holding French hostages in Mali. "Of course there are all kinds of contact" with the hostage-takers, who have identified themselves as members of Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, France's new Defence Minister Alain Juppe told Europe 1 radio, without giving more details. "All the (French) authorities, the defence ministry, the foreign ministry, everyone is being extremely vigilant to make the necessary contact," he added - the first public confirmation that France had contacted the kidnappers ... mehr

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Al-Qaida says France must negotiate with Bin Laden
18.11.2010 - AP

CAIRO — A leader of al-Qaida's North Africa branch said Thursday that future negotiations over the fate of five French hostages taken from an African mining town must be conducted with terror network leader Osama bin Laden himself. In an audio excerpt released by the Al-Jazeera news channel on Thursday, Abu Mossab Abdelouadoud said that to ensure the safety of the hostages, French troops must also withdraw from Afghanistan. "Any negotiations must be done with Osama bin Laden and according to his conditions," said a voice described as that of Abdelouadoud, one of the group's top leaders ... mehr

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TERRORISME
OTAGES AU MALI - La France sommée de "négocier avec Ben Laden"
19.11.2010 - Le Point

Le chef d'Al-Qaeda au Maghreb islamique (Aqmi) a prévenu que la France allait devoir négocier avec Oussama Ben Laden pour obtenir la libération des cinq otages français retenus au Mali. Aqmi exige, en outre, de la France qu'elle retire ses troupes d'Afghanistan pour libérer les otages qu'elle retient, a ajouté l'Algérien Abdelmalek Droukdel ... mehr
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France verifying Al-Qaeda video threat
19.11.2010 - AFP

PARIS — France said Friday it was working to authenticate a videotape in which an Al-Qaeda leader in Africa who is holding five French hostages warns Paris to pull its troops out of Afghanistan. Abdelmalek Droukdel, the head of Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), said the safety of the hostages depended on a French pullout in the video broadcast on Al-Jazeera Arabic Television on Thursday, according to the US monitoring group SITE Intelligence ... mehr


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