One thing about AQIM is that their methods do evolve and there is generally some rationale for what they do.
In this case I suspect the local NGO is either linked to some UN based funding or else is doing something ideologically at odds with AQIM - quite possibly both.
Another possibility is that the captives give AQIM some bargaining power over any Niger based role in the imminent ECOWAS intervention in Mali. As others have noted, best to stay well clear of Mali and Niger for the next few months or more. I wouldn't expect a decisive outcome from the ECOWAS forces. They won't know the desert as well as AQIM now do and their heart will not be in the fight to the same extent.
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