French President Francois Hollande answers a question during a joint press conference with U.S. President Barack Obama in the East Room of the White House during the official State Visit by Hollande in Washington, DC on February 11, 2014. UPI/Pat Benic |
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PARIS, March 11 (UPI) -- Groups allied with al-Qaida issued a threat Tuesday against French President Francois Hollande for Mali and Central African Republic interventions.
The Malian government in January 2012 called on military support from former colonial power France to help take on al-Qaida and other insurgents who took control over parts of the country the previous year. In late 2013, the U.N. Security Council authorized a French deployment to CAR to help the former French colony recover from a March coup led by Seleka, a Sunni rebel coalition.
Radio France Internationale published a message Tuesday from the website Media Platform of the Mujahadin calling on "lone wolves in France" to "execute the head of atheism and criminality," a reference to Hollande.
An attack on the In Amenas natural gas facility in Algeria by al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb in 2012 was said to be a response to the French intervention in Mali.
"Blow them up and make them experience horror," the al-Qaida message said Tuesday.
There was no statement from Hollande's office on the threat.
