BAMAKO — Al-Qaeda-linked Islamists in Mali threatened on Saturday to “open the doors of hell” for French citizens if France kept pushing for a war to retake the rebel-held north. The renewed threats against French hostages and expatriates came ahead of a summit of French-speaking nations in Congo, where President Francois Hollande was expected to urge the rapid deployment of an African-led force to rout the Islamists. The UN Security Council called on Friday for an intervention plan to be drawn up within 45 days after passing a French-drafted resolution to revive attempts to end the crisis. “If he continues to throw oil on the fire, we will send him the pictures of dead French hostages in the coming days,” said Oumar Ould Hamaha, a spokesman for Islamist group MUJWA, in an apparent reference to four French nationals seized in neighboring northern Niger in 2010. “He will not be able to count the bodies of French expatriates across West Africa and elsewhere,” Hamaha said by telephone. MUJWA is among the Islamist groups that have controlled the northern two-thirds of Mali since fighters swept the territory in April following a coup in the capital Bamako. Regional and western powers are now mulling an intervention to retake the zone, with former colonial ruler France seeking swift military action by regional bloc ECOWAS. — Reuters
