France Vows to Fight Al-Qaeda in North Africa After Citizen’s Assassination

“These people are indescribably cruel,” he said, but “France does not practice revenge. However, we have agreements with regional governments—especially the Mauritanian government—to track these terrorists and bring them to court.”

Michel Germaneau, a 78-year-old humanitarian worker, was kidnapped in Niger by Aqmi last April. Described as humble and dedicated to others, he was there to supervise the building of a school. In the early days following Germaneau’s kidnapping, French authorities were worried that they would not be able to save him since they were unable to start negotiations with Aqmi representatives.

“The life of the hostage was condemned” following a “weird ultimatum” given by Amqi last July, said Fillon. “Because of this [ultimatum], we were led to believe that Michel Germaneau was already dead at that time, but it only was a hypothesis.”

The prime minister explained how French special forces organized a rescue operation at a place where they thought the hostage was detained. “We hoped he would be in that camp,” said Fillon. “That was the only solution [to make an attempt at saving Germaneau] in a desert as large as Europe.”

An elected official from Mali told AFP that Germaneau was beheaded on July 24 by Aqmi after the group suffered an attack from French and Malian troops, but French media also raised the possibility that he died weeks ago as a result of a heart condition that went untreated after being held captive by Aqmi.

Since 2009, al-Qaeda has made France a particular focus for future terror attacks for two main reasons. First, France has been involved military in Afghanistan with more than 4,000 troops and several jet fighters. Second, France recently passed legislation prohibiting Islamic veils—burqas and niqabs—in public. Le Point newspaper pointed out that in June 2009, when French President Nicolas Sarkozy announced that burqas were “not welcome” on French soil, Aqmi leader Abou Moussab Abdoul Wadoud promised to “revenge against France and its interests by all means.”

However, the threat against France is “stable,” expert on radical Islam Mathieu Guidère told Le Figaro newspaper.

“No information allows us to say that France is in greater danger […] Nothing suggests that Aqmi is planning an operation on our territory.”

The current threat, he said, resembles more the case of “isolated terrorists" like Times Square's Faisal Shahzad who commit radical acts without evident links with key al-Qaeda members.