French hostages shown on video
Four French men kidnapped by al Qaeda militants in northern Niger almost two years ago appeared in a video on Saturday appealing to French President Francois Hollande and their employers to continue negotiations to secure their release, AFP reported.
Source : https://www.marocafrik.com/english/French-hostages...
The seven-minute video, posted on the Mauritanian news website Sahara Media, shows the four men - Pierre Legrand, Daniel Larribe, Thierry Dole and Marc Ferret kneeling in a desert setting with armed men with Kalashnikov rifles.
The video is the first evidence to emerge in nearly 18 months proving the hostages kidnapped by al-Qaeda's north African arm (AQIM) are alive.It has become standard practice for AQIM to video its hostages and the move is designed to bring increased pressure on the French government as the men have been held for a considerable time. The four were among seven people working for French nuclear group Areva and Sogea-Satom, a subsidiary of construction group Vinci, who were kidnapped in September 2010 in the town of Arlit in Niger's northern uranium mining zone.
AQIM is said to have demanded a 90 million euro ransom. France has so far refused to negotiate there are reports that France is considering deploying special forces to counteract AQIM's kidnapping of european nationals in the region.
The families of the hostages have been invited to meet President François Hollande on Thursday,according to AFP.
The video is the first evidence to emerge in nearly 18 months proving the hostages kidnapped by al-Qaeda's north African arm (AQIM) are alive.It has become standard practice for AQIM to video its hostages and the move is designed to bring increased pressure on the French government as the men have been held for a considerable time. The four were among seven people working for French nuclear group Areva and Sogea-Satom, a subsidiary of construction group Vinci, who were kidnapped in September 2010 in the town of Arlit in Niger's northern uranium mining zone.
AQIM is said to have demanded a 90 million euro ransom. France has so far refused to negotiate there are reports that France is considering deploying special forces to counteract AQIM's kidnapping of european nationals in the region.
The families of the hostages have been invited to meet President François Hollande on Thursday,according to AFP.
Source : https://www.marocafrik.com/english/French-hostages...