Friday, November 15, 2013

France Reacts To Abduction Of French Priest In Cameroon

An official at the Paris prosecutor’s office said an investigation had been opened into “kidnapping and illegal confinement by a group linked to a terrorist organisation” as a result of Vandenbeusch’s abduction.
France’s foreign ministry (Quai d’Orsay) said no group had yet claimed responsibility and that it was trying to establish the identity of the kidnappers. Paris considers the region at high risk for kidnapping and has warned its citizens to leave, but Vandenbeusch had insisted on completing his mission.

Vandenbeusch arrived in Cameroon in 2011, having previously been a priest in the Paris suburb of Sceaux.
“All must be done and all will be done so that he can be freed as quickly as possible,” French President François Hollande said Thursday, speaking during a visit to Monaco.
Hollande has previously denied that any ransom was paid to free the French family of seven kidnapped in Cameroon and released last April. But a confidential Nigerian government report seen by Reuters said that Boko Haram was paid the equivalent of $3.15 million by French and Cameroonian negotiators.
French media reported that a €20 million ransom had also been paid for the four French hostages abducted in Niger in 2010 and freed late last month, an allegation the French government strongly denies.
(FRANCE 24 with wires)


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