Foreign companies 'at risk' in north Africa

A north African specialist has warned more foreign companies are at risk of getting caught up in militant activity connected to the Mali crisis.

African troops are on their way to Mali to shore up a five-day old French military offensive.

A north African specialist has warned more foreign companies are at risk of getting caught up in militant activity connected to the Mali crisis.

The Islamists who took foreign hostages at a remote gas installation in Algeria are believed to have been motivated by Algerian support for the French military intervention in neighbouring Mali.

Imad Mesdoua is an Algerian political analyst with a South African-based risk management consultancy firm, Pasco.

He gave Santilla Chingaipe his views on the hostage situation in Algeria.