Threat to the lives of six French hostages held in Mali

PARIS (Reuters) - Six French hostages held in Mali by Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) threatened with death in a message that alleged extremist movement, published by the Mauritanian Sahara website Media Agency, one of its communication channels. In this message, which had not yet been authenticated Wednesday by the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs, France is accused of preparing an invasion of northern Mali with African countries to assist the Malian army to reconquer the region controlled by Islamic extremists. The authors of the message, which cater to families of four of the six hostages, accusing the new French leaders not to "address the real causes that made the interests of France are threatened by the mujahideen." Instead of "correcting errors" that are "the occupation of Muslim lands and the fight against Islam and its people," they add, "we have recently seen worse things (...) and call invade Muslim lands in Mali. " "This initiative not only mad cause the death of the hostages but will sink France in Azawad (note, the desert north of Mali) and bring him, and his people, more tragedies and disasters," reads it in the text in Arabic. The authors say that AQIM message is ready to negotiate with France but that it should be the first step. Visit to Paris, the President of Burkina Faso, Blaise Compaoré, said Wednesday that the hostages were still alive, but there were no negotiations. "We see with the French authorities how we can build bridges for a real dialogue can take place," he said in an interview with France 24. "We do not engage in negotiations with them (the kidnappers)." MALI, "MAJOR CONCERN" FOR PARIS They have released there a fortnight a video showing four French kidnapped on 16 September 2010 at Arlit in northern Niger where they worked for the nuclear group Areva and its subcontractors. The other two French hostages kidnapped two men are November 24, 2011 in northern Mali. François Hollande received a week ago the families of the hostages, who are not really reassured outputs of this interview. Islamists seized in northern Mali by exploiting the confusion that followed a military coup in March in Bamako and Tuareg rebels progression of the National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (MNLA). The situation in Mali "is an absolutely major concern," confided Reuters on Wednesday the Socialist MEP Elisabeth Guigou, President of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the National Assembly. "This is the destabilization of the Sahel, the control of entire regions by terrorists who are mainly France and Europe," she said. "We deal with people very well armed, who recovered weapons in Libya." However, it considered that it was for Malians and Africans to resolve the crisis, even with the support of France and the UN, which is the position of Paris.