{"id":44106,"date":"2013-10-30T15:14:02","date_gmt":"2013-10-30T13:14:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nationalturk.com\/en\/?p=44106"},"modified":"2013-10-30T15:14:02","modified_gmt":"2013-10-30T13:14:02","slug":"french-hostages-in-niger-kidnapped-french-freed-africa-news-44106","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nationalturk.com\/en\/french-hostages-in-niger-kidnapped-french-freed-africa-news-44106\/","title":{"rendered":"French Hostages in Niger: Kidnapped French Nationals Freed in Niger after Three Years \/ Africa News"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Kidnapped-French-Niger\"<\/a>The French President, Francois Hollande has announced that four French nationals who were kidnapped in 2010 in Niger have been freed by their captives.<\/h1>\n

The men were seized on 16 September 2010 by Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) in raids targeting two French firms operating a uranium mine near Arlit in Niger.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The four men were identified as Thierry Dol, Daniel Larribe, Pierre Legrand and Marc Feret and they have been held hostage for more than 3 years.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The freed hostages were flown to Niger’s capital, Niamey, where they were greeted by the French foreign and defence ministers before leaving for France.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

President Hollande told international reporters in the Slovak capital Bratislava that is exceedingly happy that the men have been freed since it was a major priority of his government to see the men released.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

“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.”<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

“I want to express all my gratitude to the president of Niger who obtained the release of our compatriots,” he added, without providing further details.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The French defence minister, Jean-Yves Le Drian said the four men were freed without a military assault or a ransom being paid.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

But many in Niger according to local reporter believe that Niger’s top negotiator Mohamed Akotey who was a former Tuareg rebel negotiated for their released.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The Agence France Presse quoted the freed hostages as saying that: “they were happy, excited, we waited for so long. After three years it’s hard to believe.”<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

France’s military intervention in neighbouring Mali earlier this year was a worrying time because of fears the hostages could be killed in reprisal, our correspondent adds.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

During the military campaign, French troops forced Islamists out of northern Mali, killing or scattering them across the vast Sahel region.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) is an Islamist militant organization which aims to overthrow the Algerian government and institute an Islamic state.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The group has declared its intention to attack European, Spanish, French, and American targets and has become a source of worry for various governments in the Islamic Maghreb.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Issaka Adams \/ NationalTurk Africa News<\/b><\/span><\/span><\/p>\nError, group does not exist! Check your syntax! (ID: 15)<\/span>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The French President, Francois Hollande has announced that four French nationals who were kidnapped in 2010 in Niger have been freed by their captives.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":702,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[21,80,63,1,118,14],"tags":[60362,60358,23047,60351,60356,3160,60354,60361,60360,60353,60359,60357],"class_list":["post-44106","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-africa","category-breaking-news","category-daily","category-general","category-hot","category-world","tag-al-qaeda-niger","tag-daniel-larribe","tag-francois-hollande","tag-french-hostages-niger","tag-french-kidnapped-2010","tag-french-president","tag-kidapped-french-freed","tag-maghreb-aqim-niger","tag-marc-feret","tag-niger-french-hostages","tag-pierre-legrand","tag-thierry-dol"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalturk.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44106","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalturk.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalturk.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalturk.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/702"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalturk.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44106"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalturk.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44106\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalturk.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44106"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalturk.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=44106"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalturk.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=44106"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}