France denies asylum request from Sudan-Chad hijacker

Jan 25, 2007 (KHARTOUM) — The French embassy in Khartoum on Thursday denied French diplomats had any contact with a Sudanese man who hijacked an airliner to N’Djamena in Chad after media reports said he had asked for asylum.

“France does not accord political asylum to people who commit such actions,” the embassy said in a statement to Sudanese media. It added that the hijacker “had no contact” with any French diplomat in the Chadian capital.

The embassy statement said that “France condemns all acts of terrorism, including aircraft hijackings”.

Sudanese media reports on Thursday had said the hijacker had asked the French embassy in N’Djamena for political asylum.

The Sudanese Air West Boeing 737 with 95 passengers and eight crew aboard was on a domestic flight to El-Fasher in Darfur on Wednesday when it was seized by a lone hijacker armed with a knife and a handgun.

After the airliner landed in N’Djamena the hijacker, Mohammed Abdelatif Mahamat, 24, gave himself up without a struggle.

“He said he was being persecuted in Sudan and wanted political asylum in Britain” with “a guarantee from the French embassy”, said Chad’s junior minister for infrastructure, Adoum Younomosmi.

Sudan’s civil aviation authority has launched an investigation into how the man managed to evade security measures at Khartoum airport.

(AFP)