Don’t pay ransom for Qaeda hostages, says Mauritania - NewsBlist

NOUAKCHOTT (AFP) – Mauritania on Sunday urged that no ransom be paid for European hostages held in the Sahel region by Al-Qaeda’s North African wing, at a meeting of European and African defence ministers.
Twelve Europeans, six of them French, are now being held hostage in the arid and poor region south of the Sahara by Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) and by a breakaway faction of the militant group.
“I ask everyone to work to dry up the sources of terrorism and to push the kidnappers into a corner by not paying ransom,” said Mauritania’s defence minister, Ahmedou Ould Ideye, at the opening of the meeting.
French Defence Minister Gerard Longuet said that “we maintain by all appropriate means many channels of information and, if necessary, hold negotiations,” adding that the first priority was to bring home the hostages.
The conference brought together the defence ministers of the so-called “5 plus 5″ group — Spain, France, Italy, Malta and Portugal in southern Europe, and Algeria, Libya, Tunisia, Morocco and Mauritania in North Africa........http://www.vanguardngr.com/2011/12/dont-pay-ransom-for-qaeda-hostages-says-mauritania/