France Will Not Deal With Kidnappers

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/27/world/europe/france-will-not-deal-with-kidnappers.html

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The French military said Tuesday that it would not negotiate with gunmen claiming to be from the Nigerian Islamist group Boko Haram who have taken a French family of seven hostage in retaliation for French military intervention in Mali. The three adults and four children were kidnapped in northern Cameroon near the Nigerian border last week. In a video posted online, the gunmen said France had declared war on Islam with its campaign in Mali, and they threatened to kill the hostages unless the authorities in Nigeria and Cameroon freed militants there. “We do not negotiate on that kind of basis, with these kind of groups,” the French defense minister, Jean-Yves Le Drian, told RTL radio. “We will use all possible means to ensure these and other hostages are freed.”