NIGER: France steps up military efforts to find hostages
France has stepped up efforts to find seven hostages, including five French nationals, kidnapped on Sept. 16 from northern Niger and held by suspected al Qaeda-linked militants in Mali, diplomatic and military sources said on Monday. Read More
NIGER: France will ‘do everything’ to free kidnapped citizens
France will “do everything” to free five French nationals kidnapped in Niger last week by suspected al Qaeda militants, government spokesman Luc Chatel said on Sunday. Chatel declined to specify whether France was considering military action. Read More
FRANCE: Al Qaeda group says Paris negotiated to free French hostage
An al Qaeda linked group in the Sahara said Sunday that France had launched its raid in Mauritania while in negotiations with the group to free French hostage Michel Germaneau. This message contradicts earlier French government statements. Read More
DIPLOMACY: French PM declares ‘war’ on al Qaeda after hostage killed
France is now at war with Al Qaeda, France’s Prime Minister Francois Fillon (pictured) said Tuesday, after the group’s North African branch executed 78-year old French national Michel Germaneau. Read More
FRANCE: Sarkozy condemns French hostage ‘assassination’
French President Nicolas Sarkozy has condemned the killing of French hostage Michel Germaneau, held captive since April by al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, confirming the group’s claim on Sunday that they killed the 78-year-old aid worker. Read More
FRANCE: Govt holds urgent talks after al Qaeda claims it executed French hostage
French President Nicolas Sarkozy convened an emergency meeting on Monday, a day after Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb said it had killed 78-year-old French hostage Michel Germaneau in a televised statement broadcast on Sunday. Read More
MAURITANIA: Fate of French al-Qaeda hostage unknown despite military raid
France said on Saturday it had no information as to the fate of Michel Germaneau, a 78-year-old engineer held hostage by al-Qaeda’s North African wing, as French-backed Mauritanian forces wrapped up four days of operations against the Islamist group. Read More
MAURITANIA : France aids terror raid in Mauritania, bids to free hostage
The French Defense Ministry confirmed on Friday that it provided logistical and technical support to a Mauritanian military operation to rescue a French citizen held captive by militants linked to Al Qaeda. Read More