To all- please ping me to Canadian topics.
Canada Ping!
To all- please ping me to Canadian topics.
Canada Ping!
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