Michel Germaneau, en 78-årig pensionerad
ingenjör som deltog i ett biståndsprojekt för
huggits av Al Qaedas nordafrikanska gren.
Fransmannen Germaneau kidnappades i april
i norra Niger. President Sarkozy utlovar hämnd.
***
French President Nicolas Sarkozy vowed today
to seek revenge on the North African wing of
al-Qaida for beheading an elderly French aid
worker after a joint Franco-Mauritanian raid
to rescue him last week failed.
Michel Germaneau, 78, a retired engineer who
had been helping build a school for Tuareg
nomads, was kidnapped April 19 in northern
Niger. The area is in the volatile "Red Zone"
on the southern rim of the Sahara desert.
His captors told French officials on July 11
that they would kill him in two weeks unless
France agreed to a prisoner exchange.
"I condemn this barbarous act, this odious
act which has put an end to the life of an
innocent man who was there to help the
local population," Sarkozy said today in a
televised address.
"This crime committed against Michel
Germaneau will not go unpunished."
Sarkozy also warned French nationals not
to travel to the desolate desert region that
includes Mauritania, Mali, Niger and southern
Algeria. Al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb
(AQIM) is an Islamic insurgent group that
aims to overthrow the Algerian government.
***
