Malian authorities have freed four prisoners whose release was demanded by an al-Qaeda group threatening to kill a French hostage, prompting Mauritania to recall its ambassador in protest on Monday.
“The four al-Qaeda combatants were freed on Sunday night,” a Malian security source told reporters in Bamako, insisting that Mali had not bowed to al-Qaeda’s demands as the men had completed their nine-month prison terms.
The release of the four men — two from Algeria, one from Burkina Faso and one from Mauritania — also risks angering Algiers, where the two Algerians are wanted in connection with attacks.
Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) had demanded the release of the four in exchange for French hostage Pierre Camatte, extending a previous deadline to last Saturday and threatening to kill him if their demands were not met.
As well as Camatte, who is thought to be hidden in the northern Malian desert, AQIM is also holding three Spanish hostages and an Italian couple, kidnapped in neighboring Mauritania within days of each other in November.
The release of the prisoners prompted anger in Nouakchott, where the foreign ministry said the move was “surprising” given that one of those released is wanted in Mauritania.
“Mauritania, while expressing its condemnation and rejection of this measure, has decided to recall its ambassador to Bamako for consultation,” Mauritania’s foreign ministry said in a statement.
“This non-cordial measure taken by the Malian authorities harms age-old relations between the two countries. Above all it’s a flagrant contradiction of judicial cooperation accords and security coordination agreements,” between the countries, the ministry said.
Mali had long insisted it would not give in to AQIM’s demands, but last Thursday a court gave the four prisoners sentences that corresponded with the amount of time they had already spent in custody, paving the way for their release.
“We had a problem: how to do everything we could to save the life of the Frenchman,” an adviser to Malian President Amadou Toumani Toure told reporters.
“It was our duty to ask people in the north [of Mali] to get involved. We owe this to France, a friendly country,” the adviser said.
It could be several days before the Frenchman is freed, a Malian security source said.
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was