Mr Sarkozy defended France's decision to take part in that operation with troops from Mauritania as a last-ditch effort to free Mr Germaneau.

"Convinced he was condemned to a certain death, we had the duty to make this effort to pull him free from his captors," Mr Sarkozy said in a public address after an emergency government meeting in Paris on Monday.

That effort failed and Mr Germaneau was killed "in cold blood," Mr Sarkozy said, without specifying when or where.