Osama bin Laden wanted Al-Qaeda in north Africa to keep French hostages alive until after the presidential election currently taking place, a letter released by US secret services shows.
France is ready to back a west African military intervention in Mali but not to send its own force, Foreign Affairs Minister Alain Juppé said Thursday.
Few surprises in this morning's French papers. Predictably - lazily - one might say - each follows its own, rather narrow agenda, catering to readers' expectations and prejudices.
In Nigeria, authorities have detained five men with alleged links to Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb. Four of the suspects were arrested in the northern city of Kano.
The situation in Somalia has been unstable for almost 22 years, leading some experts to believe the crisis is insoluable - at least in the short-to-medium term.
