Niger rebels seize French workers

Tuareg-led rebels in Niger seized four French employees of a French-run uranium mine yesterday in an abduction they said showed the country's government could not guarantee the safety of foreign mining operations.

Niger's government said the four, who worked for the French nuclear group Areva at its Cominak mine at Arlit in the north of the West African country, were kidnapped by "armed bandits", the term it usually uses to refer to the rebels.

The rebel Niger Justice Movement (MNJ) said it carried out the kidnapping as a warning to foreign mining companies. It said it was responding to a public pledge made by Niger's government earlier this month that it would provide military protection to growing foreign investments in uranium mining and oil.

"The sole aim of this commando operation is to bring the mining partners in our country back to reality," the MNJ said in a posting on its website www.m-n-j.blogspot.com.

"These (abducted) persons are not in any danger from the MNJ, which will release them from today to the Red Cross if it wishes," said the rebel movement, whose desert fighters launched a rebellion last year in Niger's uranium-producing north.