Kidnappings Escalate France's Desert War on al-Qaeda

By Vivienne Walt / Paris Wednesday, Sep. 22, 2010

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Mahamane Laouali Dan Dah, right, Niger's minister of 

higher education and research serves as government 

spokesman at a press conference, in Niamey, Niger, 

Tuesday, Sept. 21, 2010.

Tagaza Djibo / AP

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France may have departed its North African colonies decades ago, but this week the French military dramatically escalated its operations across the region against al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM). French fighter jets have begun flying sorties over the Sahara Desert in a hunt for five French hostages held by the regional Qaeda affiliate. Prime Minister Francois Fillon has said that his country is now "at war" against AQIM, which first emerged in Algeria but operates across the Sahara belt from Chad to Mauritania. But if this is war, as Fillon says, France could be in for a long fight.

The French escalation was triggered by the kidnapping last Thursday of seven uranium miners in the dirt-poor nation of Niger. The men, who were snatched from their homes in the remote desert north of the country, work for France's state-owned nuclear giant Areva and a subsidiary of the French construction company Vinci. Five of the hostages are French, while the others come from Madagascar and Togo. (Time)
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Read more: http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2020830,00.html#ixzz10JywuelB