Somalia/France/Piracy: 6 suspected pirates arrested after attack

The French naval forces arrested 6 suspected Somali pirates after they tried to hijack La Somme, a 3,800-ton French navy refuelling ship, – mistaking it to be a regular vessel – , reported military spokesman Patrick Steiger on Wednesday. Describing the Tuesday-night incident, Steiger further informed that the pirates came in two speedboats and fired eight rounds, to which the navy responded with warning shots. "The two skiffs understood they had made a mistake and fled in two different directions". The attackers were then pursued and caught later along with automatic weapons, petrol tanks and grappling hooks.

La Somme, which looks like a civilian vessel, had come under a similar attack in the past. In October last year, pirates attempted to launch a hijacking attempt, but were arrested and transferred to the police.

Afghanistan/France/Insurgency: French TV names journalists held by Taleban

Following Taleban's new threat on Sunday to execute two French journalist hostages unless a prisoner exchange is organised, French public television channel France 3 on Monday released the names of the hostages.

France 3 identified the journalists as Herve Ghesquiere, 47, and Stephane Taponier, 46. In a video footage posted by the Taleban on a website on Sunday, both the journalists urged French President Nicolas Sarkozy to negotiate with their abductors.

The duo and their Afghan driver and translator, were seized in Afghanistan's north-eastern Kapisa province on December 30 while working on a story for France 3 television. The driver was later freed.

In the video, one journalist confirmed "a group of Taleban” held them imprisoned, adding they wanted to be "released as quickly as possible" while the other said they are “treated well”.

Afghanistan/France/Terrorism: French soldier killed near Kabul

A statement from the French presidency announced that a paratrooper of the French Foreign Legion (Légion étrangère) had been killed on Thursday during clashes with Taleban fighters near the Afghani capital Kabul.

The soldier, a member of the second airborne regiment of the French Foreign Legion, was shot during an exchange of fire with Taleban insurgents in the Tagab Valley, just north-east of Kabul, and had been transported to a French military hospital in the capital, where he succumbed to his injuries. The name of the soldier has not been disclosed.

His death brings to 41 the number of French soldiers killed in the country since 2001. President Nicolas Sarkozy paid tribute to the soldier but also reiterated that France will continue to support the US and NATO forces in Afghanistan. “The president reaffirms his support of the Afghan people and the Afghan authorities. He forcefully condemns this blind violence and expresses France’s determination to continue working with the International Security Assistance Force”, the statement reads.

Nigeria/Insurgency: gunmen kidnap Total oil worker in Rivers State

(Michael Kamber/Polaris/Photo News)

A spokeswoman of the Rivers State police stated on Thursday that unidentified gunmen had kidnapped a local employee of the French oil company Total in Nigeria's southern Niger Delta region on Wednesday.

Police spokeswoman Rita Inoma-Abbey said the Nigerian employee of Total was abducted as he drove his car outside Port Harcourt, capital of Rivers State, around 6.30 am (local time).

The kidnapping comes two weeks after Nigeria's main armed group, the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) had threatened to “expand the operational range of the attacks” and to attack oil firms that had been “spared in the past, such as those belonging to Total”.

MEND however declared in a statement it was not responsible for the kidnapping, as the rebel group “does not see the Nigerian workers in Total as having any hostage value”. Total itself did not give comments on the incident so far.

Spain/Venezuela/France/Security: Madrid asks Caracas to increase efforts in fight against ETA

Spain's Interior Minister Alfredo Pérez Rubalcaba urged Venezuelan government to take some concrete steps against the Basque separatist group (ETA).

Speaking to a Spanish TV channel on Wednesday, Rubalcaba said the government of Hugo Chávez is expected to provide as much cooperation as other Latin American countries on fighting against ETA. He said Spain will demand Venezuelan government to increase their efforts.

Earlier this month, Spanish judge Eloy Velasco accused Hugo Chávez of promoting an alliance between ETA and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). However, Venezuelan authorities strongly denied the allegations made by Velasco.

On Tuesday, French President Nicolas Sarkozy vowed to eradicate ETA's bases in France as he paid tribute to French police officer Jean-Serge Nerin during funeral ceremony in Melun, southeast of Paris. Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero also attended the ceremony. Nerin, 52, was shot dead by suspected ETA rebels in a suburb near Paris last Tuesday.

Spain/France/Security: Spain raises terrorism alert level; Sarkozy vows to eradicate ETA bases in France

Following the killing of a French police officer by suspected members of the Basque separatist group (ETA), Spanish government announced strengthening of security measures ahead of the Easter holidays in Spain.

On Monday evening the Interior Ministry issued a statement where it informed that the security level would being raised from a "low intensity" alert to "high intensity" within stage 2 of the four-stage alert scale.  This level of alert will be maintained until the end of Spain's six-month rotating presidency of the European Union on June 30.

French police officer, Jean-Serge Nerin, 52, was shot dead by suspected ETA rebels in a suburb near Paris last Tuesday. According to French police officials, the assailants opened fire on the police officer who tried to stop a speeding car near a garage in Dammarie-les-Lys, east of Paris. However, the terrorist group did not claim any responsibility for the attack on police officer.

Meanwhile, French President Nicolas Sarkozy vowed on Tuesday to eradicate ETA's bases in France as he paid tribute to Nerin during funeral ceremony in Melun, southeast of Paris. Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero also attended the ceremony.

ETA, designated as a terrorist organisation by both the European Union and the United States, is blamed for 829 deaths in a 41-year campaign for independence for the Basque region.

France/Spain/Security: French policeman killed in suspected ETA attack

On Tuesday, a French police officer was killed in an encounter with suspected ETA (Euskadi Ta Askatasuna) members in the Paris suburb of Seine-et-Marne.

According to French police officials, the assailants opened fire on the police officer who tried to stop a speeding car near a garage in Dammarie-les-Lys, east of Paris at around 7.15 p.m. (1815 GMT). A police spokesman said two of the assailants managed to flee in a stolen vehicle, while the third suspect was nabbed and has been identified as Joseba Fernandez Aizpurúa.

Meanwhile, police launched a man hunt on Tuesday night and an anti-terrorism magistrate joined the operation. The incident followed last month's arrest of senior ETA leader Ibon Gogeascoechea in Cahan city in the Lower Normandy region along with two other ETA members.

France/Sudan/Central African Republic/Security: two French aid workers freed

The French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner announced on Sunday that two French aid workers, kidnapped in the Central African Republic last year, had been freed in Sudan's Darfur region on Sunday after nearly four months in captivity.

Olivier Denis and Olivier Frappé, employees of the French non-governmental aid organisation Triangle Génération Humanitaire had been abducted in the northern Central African town of Birao near the Chadian and Sudanese borders on November 22 last year.

The “Freedom Eagles of Africa” (Les Aigles de liberation de l’Afrique), an armed Chadian group, in November claimed responsibility for the abduction of Denis and Frappé and also for Red Cross worker Laurent Maurice. Maurice however, had already been freed last month.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy in a statement said he was delighted that the aid workers have been freed, but urged for the release of International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) worker Gauthier Lefevre, who was abducted in West Darfur last October.

Meanwhile, Sudan's state minister for humanitarian affairs, Abdel Baqi Gilani, said his government has vowed on Sunday to bring to justice those behind the abduction.

Somalia/Piracy:  French warship captured 11 suspected Somali pirates

A spokesman for European Union's anti-piracy force (EU NAVFOR) stated on Friday that a French warship FS Nivose has arrested 11 suspected Somali pirates and destroyed their vessels in the Indian Ocean.

EU-NAVFOR spokesman said the FS Nivose had been sent after an aborted attack on a French merchant vessel on Thursday. "On arrival at the scene they found 11 suspected pirates and pirate paraphernalia in the skiffs including a rocket launcher, grappling hooks and several fuel barrels," EU NAVFOR said in a statement.

Reportedly, the French warship destroyed  the pirate’s vessel and has taken 11 suspected pirates on board.

According to sources the incident took place some 350 nautical miles east of the Somali coast, between the Seychelles and Mombasa, in Kenya.

Spain/France/Terrorism: Leader’s arrest marks significant blow to ETA 

On Sunday the leader of the Basque separatist organization ETA, Ibon Gogeascoechea Arronategui,  was arrested in a joint operation of Spanish and French security forces in France.

Reportedly, Ibon Gogeascoechea was detained in Cahan city in the Lower Normandy region with two other members of ETA, Beñat Aguinagalde and Gregorio Jiménez Morales, in a stolen vehicle with false license plates.

The police seized guns and explosives w from the scene.

Ibon Gogeascoechea was responsible for the attempted Assassination of King Juan Carlos of Spain in 1997 in which a police officer has been killed.

Gregorio Jimenez in 2001 launched three  surface-to-air missiles at the aircraft of the Spanish Prime Minister José Maria Aznar.

Beñat Aguinagalde is responsible for the assassination of former Socialist politician in March 2008, as well as that of Basque businessman in December 2008.

Spanish security sources considered the arrest of Ibon Gogeascoechea as the most significant blow to ETA since the detention of its former commander-in-chief, Francisco Javier López Peña, aka Thierry, in May 2008.

Meanwhile, on Monday Spanish judge charged 6 members of ETA and 7 members of Colombian rebel group FARC over a plot to assassinate Colombian officials, including President Alvaro Uribe. Reportedly, the FARC requested ETA’s logistical aid to perpetrate attacks on Colombian targets in Spain, including on President Alvaro Uribe.

ETA’s military chief arrested in France 

The suspected top leader of the armed Basque separatist organisation ETA was arrested by police early Sunday, Spain’s Interior Ministry said.

Ibon Gogeascoechea Arronategui, 54, and two other suspected ETA members were arrested, during a joint Spanish and French operation, on a rural home in Cahan in the Normandy area of France. The two other ETA members were identified as Beinat Aguinagalde Ugartemendia, 26, and Gregorio Jimenez Morales, 55.

Gogeascoechea Arronategui is wanted for the murder of a police officer and has been a fugitive for 12 years, the statement said.

ETA is blamed for nearly 830 deaths in its 41-year armed struggle for independence for the Basque region. 

Mali/France/Insurgency: AQIM releases Frenchman in prisoner swap

The government of Mali announced on Tuesday that Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) has released French hostage Pierre Camatte, who was kidnapped on November 25 last year.

The liberation of Carnatte, who arrived in the capital Bamako on Wednesday morning, was confirmed by Malian presidency spokesman Seydou Cissouma.

Camatte's release comes after Mali earlier had freed four Islamist terrorists as demanded by AQIM in exchange for the French hostage. However, the release of four terrorists led to a diplomatic spat between Mali, Algeria and Mauritania, with the latter two recalling their ambassadors in protest.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy was delighted by Camatte’s release and thanked Malian President Amadou Toumani Toure for solving the crisis.

Malian members of AQIM are still holding three Spaniards and an Italian couple hostage.

Mauritania/Mali/Insurgency: Nouakchott recalls its ambassador in protest at release of terrorists

Following Mali's release of 4 Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) terrorists, including one Mauritanian, Mauritania temporarily recalled its ambassador to Bamako, Sidi Mohamed Ould Hanenna, for consultation, the Mauritanian Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Monday.

"The recall of the ambassador is a mean of protest”, the statement said, adding that the release was “an unjustified act” which violated “judicial agreements between Mauritania and Mali”.

According to Malian authorities, the 4 already completed their sentences after a court in Mali convicted them for “illegal detention of war weapons” last Thursday. Nouakchott however, says the former prisoner is a member of AQIM and should have been handed over to Mauritanian authorities.

It must be noted that the liberation of the 4 terrorists was a condition set by AQIM to release the French hostages Pierre Camatte. AQIM claimed responsibility for the kidnapping of Camatte, who, on November 25 last year, was snatched near Menaka in the Sahel region of northern Mali. The group also claimed responsibility for the kidnapping of three Spaniards in the same region, which is plagued by Tuareg rebels, Al-Qaeda terrorists and traffickers.

Ivory Coast/Civil unrest: more protests erupt across Ivory Coast

(Quidu Noel/Gamma/Photo News)

Thousands of anti-government demonstrators took to the streets in several cities throughout Ivory Coast on Monday, protesting against President Laurent Gbagbo's decision to dissolve the government and the electoral commission (CEI).

According to witnesses, protesters torched tyres and threw stones at security forces in the western Ivorian cocoa hub of Daloa, after which the latter used tear gas to disperse the mob. Due to the protests, all shops were closed in the city. In Abobo, a northern suburb of the commercial hub of Abidjan, a Reuters cameraman saw at least one police officers wielding a machete when he was trying to disperse demonstrators, while another plainclothes policemen lost his gun to a group of protestors. Several roadblocks were also set up on the main road between the capital Yamasoukro and Abidjan. In Toumodi, south of the capital, 2,000 people were able to march peacefully through the city, although a huge security force kept a close eye on the group.

Last week saw peaceful demonstrations until Friday, when security forces shot with live rounds at demonstrators, killing at least five people. This caused the protests to become more violent in the weekend with cars being set alight, shops smashed and government offices looted on Saturday in the central city of Bouaké, while anti-government protestors burned and ransacked everything in their path in Abidjan’s southern Kumasi district on Sunday.

It was also reported that the French television station France 24’s programs had been “suspended” on Monday by the Ivorian government due to their “unprofessional use of information” about the recent “political situation” in the country.

Political tensions in Ivory Coast began after President Gbagbo sacked the government and dissolved the CEI on February 12. He thereafter ordered Prime Minister Guillaume Soro, leader of the former rebel New Forces, to form a new government and to find a new format for the poll body. Meanwhile, Burkinabe President Blaise Compaore, the mediator in the Ivorian conflict, called for “urgent” talks between Ivory Coast’s political leaders to resolve the crisis and to find “a permanent solution“.

France/Afghanistan/Terrorism: Taleban releases video of kidnapped French journalists

In a video footage posted by the Taleban on a website on Sunday, two kidnapped French journalists urged French President Nicolas Sarkozy to negotiate with their abductors.

The duo and their Afghan driver and translator, were seized in Afghanistan's north-eastern Kapisa province on December 30 while working on a story for France 3 television. The driver was later freed.

In the video, the journalists, whose names have not been disclosed by France 3, pleaded the French government to negotiate quickly with their captors. One journalist confirmed "a group of Taliban” held them imprisoned, adding they wanted to be "released as quickly as possible" while the other said they are “treated well”.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy last month condemned the kidnapping and assured that his government was doing everything possible to secure their release.

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.

France/Civil Unrest: "Islamist commando" threatens imam

On Monday night, an "Islamist commando" broke into a mosque in Drancy, near Paris and threatened the imam, Hassen Chalghoumi. According to reports, Chalghoumi is known to maintain good relations with the Jewish community.

An aid to the imam declared that around 80 people entered the mosque while about 200 people were inside. Upon entering the building, they started issues threats towards the imam, calling him an “"infidel", an "apostate" and the "Jews imam". The same source added that the group has been identified as being a proxy of the Muslim Brotherhood.

France/Mali/Terrorism: French interests threatened due to media reports

According to the Algerian press, France has recently shipped weapons and military supplies to Mauritania and Mali to support their fight against Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM). It added that Paris and Madrid had decided to form about 600 military and intelligence officers from these countries to counterterrorist techniques. 

The reports haven’t been officially confirmed, but it could threaten the live of the 6 European hostages still held by AQIM in Mali: French citizen Pierre Camatte; the 3 Spanish aid workers, Albert Vilalta, Alicia Gamez and Roque Pascual, who have been kidnapped Sunday November, 29 and an the 2 Italian nationals Sergio Cicala and Philomène Kabouree, who have been  kidnapped in the same country on Friday December, 18.

Moreover, the increased support by France, Spain and the United Stated could prompt AQIM to take retaliatory actions against western interests in North Africa in the near future.

Spain/France/Terrorism: two ETA members remain in jail

According to judicial sources, Iñaki Iribarren Galbete (photo) and Eider Uruburu Zabaleta, two ETA members who were arrested Saturday in the proximity of Clermot Ferrand, were indicted for terrorism and the illegal possession of arms and jailed yesterday.

The Spanish ministry of interior said that Galbete and Zabaleta were members of ETA’s “military logistics unit”.

Last Saturday Portuguese police detained Iratxe Yáñez Ortiz de Barrón, one of the most wanted ETA figures, with several false documents, electronic devices and a sum of 10,000€ in his car. On the same day, Garikoitz García Arrieta, also an ETA-member was arrested by the Spanish police. Bomb making materials, 10 kilograms of explosives, two firearms, false plates and false documents were found in his van.

Another French casualty in north-eastern Parwan province

A French petty officer has been killed by an Improvised Explosive Devise (IED) on Wednesday in Afghanistan’s north-eastern Parwan province. The IED went off on a road between Nijrab and Bagram when a logistics convoy of the Afghan army, accompanied by French soldiers, drove by.

This is the third French casualty in three days time. An officer and a petty officers belonging to the 1st Mechanised Brigade and to the 402nd artillery regiment from Châlons-en-Champagne had already been killed on Monday when Taleban insurgents attacked their patrol in the Alasay valley, north-east of Kabul. The total number of French soldiers killed in Afghanistan since 2001 has now risen to 39.