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Sarkozy vows to punish Al Qaida
Al Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb (Aqim) said on Sunday it had killed Michel Germaneau in response to a raid by France
- Reuters
- Published: 00:00 July 27, 2010
Paris: President Nicolas Sarkozy vowed on Monday to punish Al Qaida's north African wing after confirming the death of a 78-year-old French hostage kidnapped in Niger.
Al Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb (Aqim) said on Sunday it had killed Michel Germaneau in response to a raid by France and Mauritania against the group last week, according to a recording aired on Al Jazeera.
French commandos, acting with Mauritanian troops, had tried to free Germaneau, a retired engineer kidnapped on April 20, but had not found him when they raided a desert Al Qaida camp in Mali, Sarkozy said.
"Convinced that he was condemned to a certain death, it was our duty to try to save him away [from] his captors. Unfortunately Michel Germaneau was not there," Sarkozy said in a live televised statement.
"Far from weakening our determination, his death must reinforce it," the president said.
Travel warning
He urged French citizens to avoid travel to the Sahel region and vowed: "This crime will not go unpunished."
Sarkozy said France had received no sign since May that Germaneau was alive, and had intervened after Aqim threatened on July 11 to kill him within two weeks unless Paris arranged a prisoner exchange.
Security analysts said the group would use the raid as an excuse to target French interests in the region, though probably not on French soil.
"Looking at the way Al Qaida made the threat, I think they will try and take further revenge against French interests, in other words do something in addition to having killed the French hostage," said Camille Tawil, an author and expert on north African militant groups.
"They don't have the capability to do something in France. If they had it, they would not have hesitated to act. They would be more likely to act against French interests in Africa," he said.
Domestically, the failed raid seemed unlikely to dent Sarkozy's standing, although the Socialist mayor of Germaneau's hometown, Olivier Thomas, questioned the use of force, saying the French tradition was to negotiate hostages' freedom.
Militants in the Sahara have so far not staged any large-scale attacks, and experts say they have concentrated largely on collecting revenues from ransom payments and the smuggling of goods, including cocaine.
Improved coordination
But, fearing these groups could become too powerful in vast desert zones governments have little sway over, Western nations led by France and the United States have stepped up involvement in the region and are seeking to forge better coordination.
"Aqim will do its utmost to inflict further punishment on France but it will prefer to strike in Mauritania because that country offers easier targets compared to France," said No'man Benotman, a Libyan analyst based in Britain who is a former associate of Al Qaida chief Osama Bin Laden.
"They will want to send a message of being tough, of spreading fear," Banotman said.
Germaneau, who was working as a volunteer building a school for Tuareg nomads, was believed to be in the hands of Abdul Hamid Abu Zeid, leader of the more hardline of two Aqim factions operating in the Sahara.
The same Aqim wing killed British captive Edwin Dyer last year after Britain refused to give in to its demands.
Sarkozy said he was sending Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner to Mali, Niger and Mauritania yesterday evening to discuss increased security measures for French nationals in the region.
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