Patterns of Global Terrorism 2001 - France

France has provided substantial diplomatic, political, and other support to the war against terrorism. French officials expressed their determination to eradicate the "perverse illness" of terrorism and offered military and logistics contributions. Following the attacks on the United States, France played an important role in crafting a UN response to terrorism and joined other NATO allies in invoking Article 5, the mutual-defense clause of the NATO treaty. Paris quickly granted three-month blanket overflight clearances for US aircraft and offered air, naval, and ground assets that were integrated into Operation Enduring Freedom. At year's end, the French had also committed ground troops as part of the international peacekeeping force in Afghanistan.

During 2001, French law-enforcement officers tracked, arrested, and prosecuted individuals who they suspected had ties to al-Qaida and other extremist groups. In April, a Paris court sentenced Fateh Kamel to eight years in prison for running an underground terrorist logistics network linked to al-Qaida. French authorities established clear links between Kamel and Ahmed Ressam, who had plotted to attack the Los Angeles Airport in December 1999. On 10 September, a French magistrate opened a formal investigation into an alleged plot by an al-Qaida-linked group to target US interests in France and placed its alleged ringleader, Djamel Beghal, who was extradited from the United Arab Emirates on 1 October, in investigative detention.

In November, the French Parliament passed the "everyday security" bill, which allows for expanded police searches and telephone and Internet monitoring, along with enhanced measures to disrupt terrorist finances. Finance Minister Fabius responded rapidly to US requests related to Executive Order 13224 to freeze Taliban and al-Qaida finances. As of December, France had frozen $4 million in Taliban assets. Fabius also established a new interagency unit, designated FINTER, to provide a focal point within the Ministry for efforts to block the financing of terrorism. On an international level, the French were among the principal advocates for creating the UN Security Council's counterterrorism committee, and they cooperated with US officials in G-8 counterterrorism meetings.

Regionally, Paris continued working with Madrid to crack down on the terrorist group Basque Fatherland and Liberty (ETA). In late 2001, the number of confrontations between French officers and the Basque group increased notably, resulting in the wounding of several policemen. French authorities also discovered that major ETA training activities were taking place within France. In an unprecedented decision in September, French magistrates refused residency to 17 Spanish Basque residents who had links to ETA and gave them one month to leave French territory. Moreover, French officials arrested several ETA members in September, including Asier Oyarzabal, the suspected head of ETA's logistics apparatus.

Pro-independence Corsican groups continued to attack Government offices on the island. The murder of nationalist leader Francois Santoni in August and the ongoing debate with the mainland over the island's autonomy heightened tensions and increased the threat of continued violence. French officers arrested Rene Agonstini in September for complicity in murder and kidnapping.