ISLAMIST MILITANTS who have been holding five French citizens since kidnapping them in Niger last month have demanded that France withdraw its ban on Muslim face veils and pay a €7 million ransom to secure their release, it was claimed yesterday.
Al-Arabiya television reported that initial contacts with al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (Aqim) via intermediaries in the Sahel region were “not encouraging” due to the nature of the demands.
“The abductors have unrealistic demands which Mali and France 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 channel quoted unnamed sources.
The five French citizens were kidnapped along with a Togolese and a Madagascan in a uranium mining region in Niger on September 16th. Six of the foreigners were employed by the French nuclear giant Areva and a subsidiary of the Vinci engineering group, and the seventh was the wife of one of the men.
Tensions had already been high in the Sahel since Aqim militants executed the 78-year-old French aid worker, Michel Germaneau, in July after French commandos took part in a failed raid to free him. It vowed to avenge the raid, while President Nicolas Sarkozy has sent military reinforcements to the region to pursue the group.
The French government said Mr Germaneau’s captors refused to negotiate with its intermediaries and has said it would consider talking to hostage takers to secure the release of its citizens.
However, the foreign ministry in Paris declined to comment on yesterday’s report of a ransom demand. “We don’t comment on the numerous rumours that are springing up since the kidnapping, most of which are absurd and unfounded,” spokeswoman Christine Fages said. “As you know, discretion is essential for our work.”
The AFP news agency reported in recent days that a French woman seized in the incident has cancer and needs medical treatment. The report suggested the woman, who is in her 60s, had undergone treatment shortly before her kidnapping.