Former US Diplomat: Europeans, Canada paid $89 million ransom to Al Qaeda

A former U.S. ambassador to Mali has alleged that France paid a $17 million ransom to free hostages seized from a French mining site – cash she said ultimately funded the al-Qaeda-linked Islamist militants its troops are now fighting. French officials, whose soldiers are pushing north into the territory where the missing captives are believed to be held, denied paying any ransoms.

Huddleston, who served as ambassador to Mali and held positions in the State Department and Defense Department in the U.S. before retiring, told France’s iTele network that the French money allowed al-Qaeda’s North Africa branch to flourish in Mali.

Huddleston, the US ambassador to Mali from 2002-05, said Germany, other European countries (with the exception of Britain) and Canada had also paid ransoms which have served to finance the armed Islamist groups which last year seized control of northern Mali.

She said a total of as much as $89 million could have been paid out between 2004-11

I don’t know about the other countries, but France has a long history of doing exactly this, and much worse.

France made it official state policy to take any and all intel received from either the US and trade to to whomever the intel was about. Just gave it away in many cases, in others, such as that dealing with islamist terrorists, gave it in exchange for “protection”, or exception from attacks.

This goes all the way back to a few years after the end of WW2. It got so bad that for a long time, France was considered as hostile as the USSR in the intel world.

So who does one believe?

08/02/2013

Asharq Al-Awsat
London, Asharq Al-Awsat—According to former US ambassador to Mali, Vicki Huddleston, France has channeled millions of dollars in ransom payments to the same Al-Qaeda linked militants it is fighting today in Mali.

In an interview with French news channel iTélé on Thursday, Huddleston said, “Two years ago, Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) kidnapped a number of French citizens at a uranium mine in Niger. To get them freed, France paid a $17 million ransom.”

However the French government was double-crossed and these French hostages are still being held by Al-Qaeda militants, probably somewhere in northern Mali.

Huddleston, who served as US ambassador to Mali between 2002 and 2005, also confirmed that a number of other western countries had paid ransoms that ultimately served to finance the armed Islamist groups that seized control of northern Mali last year. She confirmed that Britain and Canada were not among these countries.

She emphasized that no ransoms were paid directly to the Islamists, but rather indirectly through the Malian government, which “forwarded at least some of the funds to the Salafists.”

http://www.asharq-e.com/news.asp?section=1&id=32840

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