French hostage’s release in Mali draws debate over countries’ negotiation policies

PARIS – France’s last hostage was freed Tuesday after being held for more than three years by al-Qaida’s North Africa branch – rekindling debate over whether countries should negotiate with extremists or stick to a muscular, uncompromising policy that runs the risk of a beheading or a botched rescue attempt.

French President Francois Hollande announced the “happy news” that 51-year-old Serge Lazarevic had been freed from captivity in Mali, prompting a standing ovation in the National Assembly.

“We no longer have any hostages in any country of the world, and we should not have any,” Hollande said.

TV images hours later showed a smiling Lazarevic – bald, goateed and 40 pounds lighter — as he met with Niger’s president. He was to fly to France early today.

The release stood in sharp contrast to the failed rescue in Yemen last weekend that ended in the deaths of an American journalist and a South African aid worker held by al-Qaida’s branch in the Arabian Peninsula.

The announcement immediately raised questions over what concessions the French government made to the extremist group holding Lazarevic, al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM). France insists it pays no ransoms and does not exchange prisoners, although in September Hollande acknowledged that “other countries have done so, to help us.”

But as with numerous French hostage releases in recent years, the story of Lazarevic’s release was far from complete. Hollande credited cooperation of the governments of Mali and Niger, but gave no details.

Analysts, lawmakers and critics quickly took to the French airwaves to discuss the pros and cons of paying ransoms and speculate whether the French government, its friends or affiliates did.

Worryingly for some, Lazarevic may have been freed in a trade.

His liberation came days after the release of two al-Qaida fighters imprisoned in Mali for his kidnapping and that of a colleague, Philippe Verdon, according to a security official in Mali. Verdon was later found shot to death in July 2013.

The two al-Qaida detainees were transferred to mediators in Niger on Saturday and turned over to al-Qaida, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he feared for his safety.

A French official who spoke on condition of anonymity because the issue is sensitive declined to give any details on the release of the al-Qaida prisoners beyond saying the negotiations to secure Lazarevic’s freedom were led by Mali and Niger.

Lazarevic and Verdon were kidnapped from their hotel in northeastern Mali in November 2011 while doing a feasibility study for a cement factory, their families have said. Speculation is widespread, however, that there were other reasons for their presence in Mali, a longtime desert hideout for al-Qaida and other extremists in Africa’s Sahel region.

AQIM alleged that they were French spies, but a Western counterterrorism official denied the claim.

Hostage-taking is a lucrative business in Mali and other Sahel countries.