French family captured in Cameroon freed

President Paul Biya has said a French family of seven members has been released by al-Qaeda-linked Boko Haram. A French family of seven kidnapped by the al-Qaeda-linked armed group, Boko Haram, in Cameroon in February have been freed and are in the hands of officials in the central African state, President Paul Biya has said. Biya made the announcement in a statement read on national radio which said the hostages - a father, mother, four children aged 5 to 12, and an uncle - had been "handed over last night to Cameroonian authorities". Paris said in a statement on Friday that all members of the family were in good health and had reached Yaoundé. The Camerooninian and Nigerian authorities, and particularly President Biya, were also thanked in the statement but highlighted that another eight hostages were still being held. "The President would like to remind all that there are 8 further French citizens detained in the Sahel," the statement said. The family was seized by Boko Haram on February 19 while visiting a national park in northern Cameroon. They are believed to have then been taken over the border into Nigeria's conflict-prone northeast. The French gas group GDF Suez has identified the captives as an employee working in Yaounde, the Cameroon capital, and his family. They were vacationing in northern Cameroon, near the border with Nigeria, according to Associated Press news agency.. Boko Haram last month ran an audio recording of Tanguy Moulin-Fournier, the father, in which he seemingly asked Biya to free detained members of the group. Boko Haram is believed to include a number of factions with various interests and shifting demands. The group has in the past called for the creation of an Islamic state in Nigeria, where corruption is deeply rooted  and most of the population lives on less than $2 per day despite its vast oil reserves.

Source: Agencies