Bamako - A total of 13 Europeans - six French, two Italians, two Spaniards, a Swede, a Dutch national and a Briton - are known to be held hostage by Islamist militants in Africa's vast and arid Sahel region, which includes the Sahara desert.
The main Islamist group in the region, known as Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), also claims to be holding a German abducted in Nigeria.
Here is a list of recent kidnappings in the region, which has been further destabilised by the overthrow of Moamer Kadhafi's regime in Libya last year and a coup in Mali last month:
- September 16, 2010: Militants seize five French nationals plus a citizen of Togo and a citizen of Madagascar from the huge uranium mine run by the French company Areva at Arlit in northern Niger. Five days later, AQIM claims responsibility for the abductions.
One of the French nationals, a woman who is ill, is freed along with the Togolese and the Madagascan on February 24, 2011.
On October 7 last year, officials in charge of negotiating for the release of the remaining four French nationals said they were in good health, but that their abductors were demanding that France withdraw its forces from Afghanistan.
- February 2, 2011: A female Italian tourist travelling with a driver and a guide is abducted by guerrillas in southern Algeria. Two weeks later an audio recording is released in which she is heard saying that she is being held by AQIM. Since then videos have been released showing her still alive.
- October 23, 2011: Three aid workers, two Spanish men and an Italian woman, are abducted from a camp for Sahrawi refugees near Tindouf in western Algeria.
In December, the abductions are claimed by an Islamist group which has split off from AQIM, which broadcasts a video showing them.
Western intelligence experts believe the three, along with the four Frenchmen abducted in September 2010, have been split up and are being held in the mountains of northwestern Mali.
- November 24, 2011: Two Frenchmen described as geologists are abducted from their hotel in the northern Malian town of Hombori. Two weeks later, on December 9, Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) publishes photos of the two in captivity.
- November 25, 2011: In an attack on the northern Malian town of Timbuktu, AQIM militants try to seize four Europeans. One of them, a German, is killed in the attack while the other three - a Swede, a Dutch national and a Briton who also has South African citizenship - are kidnapped. Two weeks later, AQIM claims responsibility and publishes their photos.
In a similar development to the south of the Sahel region, a German engineer was abducted by armed men on January 26 near the northern Nigerian city of Kano.
On March 21, AQIM released a statement and a video in which it claimed to be holding him, and demanding the release of a "Muslim woman" imprisoned in Germany in exchange for his freedom. - Sapa-AFP
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