Hostage-takers a menace for all Europe

A group cooperating with al-Qaida in North Africa has announced that it will kill French citizen Pierre Camatte, whom it kidnapped in late November, unless four al-Qaida fighters detained in Mali are released within 20 days. The business paper Expansión sees this as a new danger for Europe: "If it follows through on its threat this Islamist terrorist group would be doing the same thing, as the hostage-takers have pointed out, as it did with British hostage Edwin Dyer, whom it killed after holding him hostage for several months when the British government refused to meet the conditions the group had stipulated for his release. This precedent, which the terrorists made reference to in their message, should be understood not only as a means of cranking up the pressure but also as a threat to all European governments, in particular that in Madrid, given that the captors have three Spanish aid workers in their power who were kidnapped shortly before the Frenchman Camatte in Mauritius."   

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