The men the Mauritanian security forces captured on the norther border with Mali were not connected to AQIM, as the Mauritanians claimed, according to the Malian government. Taqadoumy writes:
The truck belongs to the merchant Mauritania Sidi Mohamed Ould Taleb, from Timbuktu. He was carrying children from the there, through Mauritania to Gao. The three miners still held in custody with the other, are Nave, Hachem and Abdessalam. Their uncle, Mmamtou Ould Henu, half-brother in the maternal line of the owner, was driving; Ely Ould Nejmou is also traveling as an apprentice mechanic. When the [truck's] failure became clear, the four people used their satellite phone to inform the father who was waiting in Mali. This comes as reinforcements, and two other relatives, and Najem Mowleu Ould Oumar Ould Mody, who is both deaf and mute, nicknamed Lebkem, aged 15. When the group reached the victims and is working around the truck, the patrol operates the Mauritanian army and the inquiry.
It continues: “the men had nothing to do with AQIM other than that they practiced the Muslim religion and were of Arabo-Berber appearance, which do not yet constitute a crime in the Islamic Republic of Mauritania.” More on this and other efforts and happenings in the Mauritanian military soon.
Don’t know, but they were probably doing some trafic (read earlier clothes). To go to Bamako costs $100 or $150 from Nouakchott by plane. It is my opinion that the Hank areas and its vicinity should be barred from any movement until those who manipulate AQMI cease doing so. No one finds AQMI until there is negotiations on ransoms to be shared and paid almost always by the same country. AQMI never found, even after they attack and followed by satellites by the US (ref: the famous article from NYT on conundrum of the sahara).
Bizarre that mechanics gone to repair a broken car in the Hank area think about bringing arms with them to duel with AQMI in the desert, in case they find any. I respect Taqadoumy, but this time they listen to the malian source without checking. I might be wrong though.
Have you read his, ladies & gentlemen. Something not right here.
http://algeria-watch.org/fr/article/pol/france/delegation_militaire_sahel.htm
I found this account from Globe & Mail (Canada) very interesting. Here is a gangster go-between who claims payment frm the canadians for having helped free the two canadians diplomats Fowler and Guay.
Not long ago, an individual like this chap would be given a one way trip to Guantanamo and forced to tell it all . Not these days and in the sahara-sahel. This reinforces my belief that all this AQMI is fabricated and recent news have tendency to accredit Jeremy keenan, François Gèze, Mellah and other conspiracy theorists …
http://www.temoust.org/le-malien-ayant-libere-les-2,12046
Here is the article from Globe and Mail on the malien goo-between:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/the-shadowy-negotiator-who-freed-fowler-and-guay/article1320522/
If this is true, then the conspiracy theory holds.
http://www.algeria-watch.org/fr/article/just/para_disparu.htm