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| Africa Subsaharan |
| French Hostages Freed after 3-Year Kidnap Ordeal in Niger |
| 2013-10-30 |
| [An Nahar] Four kidnapped Frenchies who were kidnapped by al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb in northern Niger in 2010 have been released, President Francois Hollande ...the Socialist president of La Belle France, an economic bad joke for la Belle France but seemingly a foreign policy realist... said Tuesday. "I have some good news. I just learned from Niger's president that our four hostages in the Sahel, the Arlit hostages, have been released," Hollande said on a visit to Bratislava. Frenchies Thierry Dol, Daniel Larribe, Pierre Legrand and Marc Feret were working for French nuclear giant Areva when they were kidnapped on September 16, 2010, from a uranium compound in Arlit, north-central Niger. Hollande spoke of "three years of trials for the kidnapped men, who were held by unscrupulous captors", and of "three years of suffering for the families who lived through a nightmare and are now relieved." "I want to express my gratitude to Niger's president, who was able to obtain the release of our countrymen." A source close to Hollande said the former hostages were in satisfactory health. "We can't say that they're in great health but their health is fine," the source said. Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius and Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian were in Niger's capital Niamey to recover the ex-hostages, the foreign ministry said. Foreign ministry sources said the four had arrived at the airport in Niamey and would be returning to La Belle France on Wednesday. Legrand's aunt, Brigitte Laur, told Agence La Belle France Presse the news was unbelievable after so long. "I'm happy, excited," said Laur, whose 28-year-old nephew is the youngest of the hostages. "We waited for so long," she said, her voice breaking. "After three years it's hard to believe." The news of their release came days after regional security sources in the Malian town of Gao reported the presence of envoys in the Sahel "to speed up negotiations towards freeing the kidnapped Frenchies". La Belle France however had "officially denied" sending envoys. Three other people who were kidnapped at the time -- Daniel's wife Francoise Larribe, a Togolese and a Madagascan -- were freed in February 2011. AQIM had demanded at least 90 million euros ($124 million) for the release of the remaining hostages. |
| Posted by:Fred |