A video footage of a French family believed to be abducted by the violent Islamic sect in Nigeria, Boko Haram, was released yesterday. The kidnappers threatened to wipe the family if their demends were not met.
“The president of France has launched a war on Islam and we are fighting it everywhere,” said one of the apparent kidnappers, speaking in Arabic and identifying himself as a member of Boko Haram. “Implement our demands. If you leave out even one, we will kill these people.”
The first sign of the family since they were captured came in a video posted on YouTube in which they appeared surrounded by three gunmen wearing turbans and dressed in camouflage.
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“They want the liberation of their brothers in Cameroon and their women imprisoned in Nigeria,” the man added, speaking in French as he sat on the floor beside another man, a veiled woman and four children.
The three adults and four children were kidnapped in Cameroon’s far north, near the Nigerian border in Borno State, last week.
Meanwhile, Yesterday, the country’s Defence Minister, Jean-Yves Le Drian, said
France will not negotiate with Boko Haram gunmen who have taken a French family of seven hostage.
“We do not negotiate on that kind of basis, with this kind of groups,” Le Drian told RTL radio. “We will use all [other] possible means to ensure that these and other [French] hostages are freed.
“We do not play this bidding game because that’s terrorism,” he said, deploring the fact that children were involved.
“We do not negotiate on that kind of basis, with this kind of groups,” Le Drian told RTL radio. “We will use all [other] possible means to ensure that these and other [French] hostages are freed.
“We do not play this bidding game because that’s terrorism,” he said, deploring the fact that children were involved.