Mali/France/Terrorism: Al-Qaeda extends deadline for French hostage

(Rossi Xavier/Gamma/Photo News)

French foreign minister Bernard Kouchner stated on Monday that Al-Qaeda's North African wing, Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), had extended the deadline for the life of a French hostage it is holding since November.

“The deadline has been pushed back”, Kouchner said in comments broadcast by France's RFI on Monday. he added that “Mali is responsible” but that France nonetheless was doing what it could to help rescue Pierre Camatte.

Camatte, 61, was kidnapped from his hotel in northern-eastern Mali on the night of November 25 last year. He is believed to be held by Al-Qaeda-linked groups operating in the remote desert regions of southern Algeria and northern Mali and Mauritania. Three Spaniards and two Italians have also been kidnapped in the region last year and are also thought to be held by AQIM.

Last month, AQIM declared that France and Mali would be “responsible” for the life of Pierre Camatte, if four Islamist prisoners were not released by January 30. Earlier last year, AQIM had already executed British hostage Edwin Dyer in Mali, after extending an ultimatum by 15 days, blaming Britain for failing to release a radical Muslim cleric in exchange.