Wednesday, September 22, 2010
Al Qaeda's North African wing has claimed responsibility for the kidnapping of seven foreigners in Niger last week, including five French nationals, Arabic news channel Al Jazeera reported on Tuesday. [ID:nLDE68K25K]
Here are some details of kidnappings of foreigners in Africa:
* NIGER:
September 2010 - Seven foreigners were kidnapped in Arlit, in the northern uranium mining zone of Niger, on Sept. 16. The militant Islamist group known as al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) claimed responsibility on Sept. 21 and said it would soon present its demands to France.
-- The foreigners -- five French nationals, one from Togo and one from Madagascar -- were taken across the border into Mali on Sept. 17.
-- Frenchman Michel Germaneau, also held hostage by AQIM, was executed in July after a raid in the Sahara desert involving French troops failed to free him.
* SOMALIA:
April 2008 - A Briton and a Kenyan working on a U.N.-funded project were seized by gunmen and taken to Jilib, 280 km (175 miles) south of Mogadishu. They are still being held.
July 2009 - Somali gunmen kidnapped two French security advisers working for the government from a hotel in Mogadishu on July 14. Police said one of the advisers escaped on Aug. 26 after killing three of his captors, but Marc Aubriere denied killing anyone and said he slipped away while his guards slept.
-- On June 9, 2010, a video appeared on a website used by Islamist groups, which said the other hostage, Denis Allex, had issued a "message to the French people". The video showed him in an orange outfit with armed men standing behind him.
October 2009 - Paul and Rachel Chandler, a retired British couple, were seized by pirates in the Indian Ocean aboard their yacht soon after they left the Seychelles.
-- In June 2010, the family of the couple handed over $430,000, half the ransom demanded by the gang, to elders involved in the negotiations, a clan chief said.
* PIRACY -- Somali pirates are now holding at least 17 vessels and some of their crews. The latest ship, a Maltese-flagged merchant ship, was taken on Sept. 8 and is still being held.
Source: Reuters