Mali: no prisoner exchanges

2010-02-08 21:29

Bamako - Mali will not give in to demands from al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) to free Islamist radicals held in its prisons in exchange for a French hostage, security sources said on Monday.

"Our country [Mali] has no intention of freeing the Islamic combatants currently in custody in Mali. No, we will not free them. It is a decision of our superiors," a security source close to the case told AFP.

According to the same source, French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner has insisted that Mali free the Islamists to save the life of the French national.

"No-one will tell us how to act. We are a sovereign state and we take the decisions that we deem necessary," another Malian security source said.

Last week, AQIM - which has threatened to kill six European hostages it is holding - said it had extended its deadline for French captive Pierre Camatte until February 20.

It warned that the French and Mali governments must release four AQIM militants held in Mali to win Camatte's freedom.

Among the prisoners is an Algerian who holds "an important rank" in the AQIM hierarchy.

According to the Malian security source, Algeria has demanded that he be extradited, with no response yet from Bamako.

AQIM currently holds six Europeans hostage in the northern Mali desert: the French man, three Spaniards captured on November 29 in Mauritania and an Italian couple kidnapped on December 17.

- SAPA