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French AREVA nuclear workers evacuating from Niger kidnap area

The approximately 30 Areva expatriates in Arlit are all being evacuated to Niamey, the Niger capital and have the option of returning to France, an Areva press officer said Friday..

France suspects al-Qaida link in Niger kidnapping, PhillyBurbs.com:, 17 Sept 10, The Associated Press Authorities believe al-Qaida’s North Africa branch could be behind the kidnapping of five French nationals and two Africans in Niger, Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said Friday.No one has claimed responsibility for the kidnappings, Kouchner told Europe-1 radio, but he added: “We imagine al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb is responsible.”

,,,,,,,,Armed assailants kidnapped the seven early Thursday near the uranium mining town of Arlit, in Niger’s northern Sahara desert region. Five are French, one is from Togo and one is from Madagascar.

Officials say a man who worked for the French state-owned nuclear company Areva and his wife, and five employees of a subcontractor called Satom, were kidnapped.

The approximately 30 Areva expatriates in Arlit are all being evacuated to Niamey, the Niger capital and have the option of returning to France, an Areva press officer said Friday…………The Imouraren deposit in Niger is the largest known uranium deposit in Africa, and the second-largest in the world after Australia’s Olympic Dam deposit, according to the company’s Web site.

PhillyBurbs.com:  France suspects al-Qaida link in Niger kidnapping

September 17, 2010 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | Niger, secrets,lies and civil liberties | antinuclear, AREVA, France, nuclear, nuclear secrecy