{"id":842,"date":"2010-02-25T10:28:07","date_gmt":"2010-02-25T15:28:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/delicious.com\/url\/fa3bc12987d34f2068bf0c8445bebbd2#tomathon"},"modified":"2010-02-25T10:28:07","modified_gmt":"2010-02-25T15:28:07","slug":"aqim-former-hostage-peter-camatte-speaks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.tomathon.com\/mphp\/2010\/02\/aqim-former-hostage-peter-camatte-speaks\/","title":{"rendered":"AQIM: Former hostage Peter Camatte speaks"},"content":{"rendered":"

In a press appearance in Bamako Peter Camatte, the French-Malian NGO head who was held by the AQIM described his captors as "fanatics". His description of the Algerian Abdelhamid Abou Ze\u00efd's group was "Fanatics, who thought no one but them were real Muslims". He said the group was %70-%80 youths, with whom he could communicate with only a few broken English, because most didn't speak any French. He said they sat in the desert, baking, in "unhygienic" conditions, with the only water "absolutely disgusting". These men didn't kidnap him, but he was "sold" to them by a Malian criminal gang. I'm going to go out on a limb (again): it's Algeria's problem with terrorists (who seem to have a lot of cash, via Western government's ransoms) meeting impoverished, armed Malian smugglers. So just which one is dumping the problem of their failed politics on the other?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In a press appearance in Bamako Peter Camatte, the French-Malian NGO head who was held by the AQIM described his captors as "fanatics". His description of the Algerian Abdelhamid Abou Ze\u00efd's group was "Fanatics, who thought no one but them were real Muslims". He said the group was %70-%80 youths, with whom he could communicate with only a few broken English, because most didn't speak any French. He said they sat in the desert, baking, in "unhygienic" conditions, with the only water "absolutely disgusting". These men didn't kidnap him, but he was "sold" to them by a Malian criminal gang. I'm going to go out on a limb (again): it's Algeria's problem with terrorists (who seem to have a lot of cash, via Western government's ransoms) meeting impoverished, armed Malian smugglers. So just which one is dumping the problem of their failed politics on the other?<\/p>\n

Read more →<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true},"categories":[107,174],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1004,"url":"http:\/\/www.tomathon.com\/mphp\/2010\/04\/francafrique-french-fbi-ran-the-malian-aqim-prisoner-release\/","url_meta":{"origin":842,"position":0},"title":"Francafrique: French “FBI” ran the Malian AQIM prisoner release","date":"April 9, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"\"Intelligence Online\" reports that the French internal security agency, the Direction Centrale du Renseignement Int\u00e9rieur (DCRI) carried out the negotiation with the AQIM for the release of French hostage Pierre Camatte, and sent Bernard...","rel":"","context":"In "Blog"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":847,"url":"http:\/\/www.tomathon.com\/mphp\/2010\/02\/mali-aqim-release-french-hostage\/","url_meta":{"origin":842,"position":1},"title":"Mali: AQIM release French hostage","date":"February 24, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Pierre Camatte, seized by a gang near his home in Menaka and shopped to the AQIM in the desert, has returned to Bamako. Will he ever be able to go back to his longtime home? The Malians released four AQIM prisoners in exchange, we can assume under French pressure. What\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blog"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":919,"url":"http:\/\/www.tomathon.com\/mphp\/2010\/03\/niger-military-post-raided-on-mali-border\/","url_meta":{"origin":842,"position":2},"title":"Niger: Military post raided on Mali border","date":"March 8, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Reports are coming in of an attack by unknown assailants on the army post at Tiloa, a village around 12km from the Malian border. Several soldiers were killed. North of the more inhabited Zarmaganda plateau, Tiola is a tiny stop in the desert north of Tondikiwindi rural commune, Ouallam Department,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blog"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2115,"url":"http:\/\/www.tomathon.com\/mphp\/2013\/12\/looking-for-cocaine-terrorists-the-2009-us-drugs-sting-in-mali\/","url_meta":{"origin":842,"position":3},"title":"Looking For Cocaine Terrorists: The 2009 US Drugs Sting in Mali.","date":"December 2, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"This story originally appeared in Maghreb Politics Review on December 21, 2009, as \"US Arrests Malians in Terror Drugs 'Link'\". The claim that Al-Qaeda, Hezbollah, and the FARC are part of a worldwide drugs for terror conspiracy remains active in American press and government, and remains a fantasy that meets\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Featured"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.tomathon.com\/mphp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/800px-Carcass_Sahara_Algeria.jpg?fit=800%2C533&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":520,"url":"http:\/\/www.tomathon.com\/mphp\/2009\/12\/us-arrests-malians-in-terror-drugs-link\/","url_meta":{"origin":842,"position":4},"title":"US Arrests Malians in Terror Drugs “Link”","date":"December 20, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"The US government will make much of the arrests of three Malians who they say were part of a West African criminal network, devoted to drug smuggling and Osama Bin Laden. So far all we have is hype and what looks like the entrapment of low level criminals.","rel":"","context":"In "Featured"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1651,"url":"http:\/\/www.tomathon.com\/mphp\/2012\/01\/french-papers-mali-mig-evidence-is-photo-of-a-truck\/","url_meta":{"origin":842,"position":5},"title":"Mali: French papers’ Mali MIG evidence is photo of a truck","date":"January 28, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Malian rebels and French press like Le Monde have claimed MNLA fighters shot down a Malian jet. Here's evidence it was a hoax.","rel":"","context":"In "Afrique"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.tomathon.com\/mphp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/01\/Capturelemonde1.png?fit=376%2C371&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1mYFK-dA","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.tomathon.com\/mphp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/842"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.tomathon.com\/mphp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.tomathon.com\/mphp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.tomathon.com\/mphp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.tomathon.com\/mphp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=842"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.tomathon.com\/mphp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/842\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.tomathon.com\/mphp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=842"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.tomathon.com\/mphp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=842"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.tomathon.com\/mphp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=842"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}