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Hooray hostage free / France donates more £ms to al Qaeda
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""NIAMEY/PARIS (Reuters) - Four Frenchmen held hostage in the Sahara desert by al Qaeda-linked gunmen for three years flew home and were reunited with their families on Wednesday, with Paris dismissing media reports it had paid a ransom for their release."
"Earlier this year, after ordering French military intervention in Mali to prevent al Qaeda-affiliated Islamists taking over the country, Hollande announced that France would no longer pay ransom to release hostages.
Shortly afterwards, diplomats said Hollande agreed to a British initiative to enshrine a commitment not to pay ransom to "terrorists" in the communiqué of the Group of Eight leaders' "summit in Loch Earn, Northern Ireland, in June.
"Media reports, citing unnamed sources, that a 20 million euro ($27.5 million) ransom had been paid by France's external intelligence service overshadowed their homecoming, but the government said Hollande has banned paying hostage-takers."
http://mobile.reuters.com/article/idUSBRE99T09220131030?irpc=932
How do you think of this?
- Hooray they are free
- Al Qaeda will never be defeated as long as
western nations fund it and encourage their hostage taking
- Are the lives of 4 westerners worth the thousands that will be terrorised using the ransom
- A mixture of the above
"Earlier this year, after ordering French military intervention in Mali to prevent al Qaeda-affiliated Islamists taking over the country, Hollande announced that France would no longer pay ransom to release hostages.
Shortly afterwards, diplomats said Hollande agreed to a British initiative to enshrine a commitment not to pay ransom to "terrorists" in the communiqué of the Group of Eight leaders' "summit in Loch Earn, Northern Ireland, in June.
"Media reports, citing unnamed sources, that a 20 million euro ($27.5 million) ransom had been paid by France's external intelligence service overshadowed their homecoming, but the government said Hollande has banned paying hostage-takers."
http://mobile.reuters.com/article/idUSBRE99T09220131030?irpc=932
How do you think of this?
- Hooray they are free
- Al Qaeda will never be defeated as long as
western nations fund it and encourage their hostage taking
- Are the lives of 4 westerners worth the thousands that will be terrorised using the ransom
- A mixture of the above
0
Comments
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-30396903
They salud that last time too. And the time before. Buy why relevase a hidrate uf tiene not being paíd?
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/dec/09/french-hostage-freed-mali-serge-lazarevic
Hollande’s government insists it pays no ransoms, although US officials have said otherwise.
What does that mean.
No ransom paid according to Hollande.
And my previous statement was questioning for what consideration were they released if they weren't paid. It's obvious that France paid out again.
That report is from 2013
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-24735293
Yes. And like today Hollande is again claiming no ransom was not paid just like the link to today's case where he is again contradicted by other reports.
Probably why release a hostage if they are not being paid? Looks like something my iphorn would produce
Buy a what-now? I'm sure my chemistry teacher taught me never to relevase a hidrate.
Clearly there's, 'not doing deals with terrorist' and, 'not doing deals with terrorists'.
Those ransoms have been paid by shipping companies and their insurers.
The US and UK are in the process of pushing through legislation making it a criminal offence for any individual, company, insurer or underwriter to contribute to ransom demands by any of the prescribed terrorist organisations.
As Lloyds of London underwrite most shipping insurers, it will soon be very difficult for any foreign shipping company to pay out unless they do so from their own pockets (their insurers will no longer offer it as it effectively cannot be underwritten).
The Americans and English care more about looking hard to the rest of the world than they do about saving innocent lives.
Sounds more like it.
It's not just westerners that are innocent.
Can you read your posts before submitting them. It's not too much to ask is it?
I'm not sure.
I was talking about health workers, constructions workers, oil people and stuff who get sacrificed for the 'war on terror effort'.
But not significantly different. If the evil is the payment of millions to terrorists, then whether that is achieved as a result of turning a blind eye to the actions of British based oil companies, or by direct negotiations with said hostage takers isn't really the important thing.
Don't recall Cameron et al publicly condemning the payments by businesses. By contrast, lots of 'Churchillian' posturing along the lines of; "We don't pay ransoms to / negotiate with terrorists" when (only) human lives are concerned.
And that was partly my point. France only seems to care about them. But by giving a terrorist organisation £10s of millions per Western hostage that enables them to terrorise an awful lot of villages or towns for a very long time. I think those lives count equally. Is a western life really worth 10s of thousands of non western ones including children?
The other issue is of course that if a French hostage is worth £20m then obviously that makes them a desirable commodity. Although admittedly I think US and British hostages are valuable in another sense - for PR and to be used as a warning to other Western countries of what might happen if they don't pay up.
The U.S. and Britain are leading the attempt to have it made illegal. It's mentioned in the already linked article. That's why it's a greater contrast that French ministers are actively helping companies to negotiate ransoms.
There has also been this measure: http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/isis-why-theresa-mays-ban-uk-insurers-paying-ransom-claims-changes-little-1476341
He is a liar then, his government has paid the ransoms.
I'm pretty sure "uf tiene" is something to do with Jawas.
Politicians French or otherwise don't care, all it does is paints a huge target on every French citizen as terrorist now the effeminate clown Hollande has paid a ransom once again,