Following the video release from Boko Haram in which they claimed responsibility for the abduction of a French family in Cameroon, the French government has said that it is not ready to negotiate with the Islamic sect.
Speaking through its Defence Minister, Jean-Yves Le Drian, France said it will not negotiate with the Islamist rebels for the release of the French family: “We do not negotiate on these bases, with those groups. We will use all possible means to secure the release of hostages,” Le Drian said on French radio station, RTL.
The radio announcement was in response to the Islamist rebels’ threats a day after the video was purportedly released. The Islamist rebels had threatened to kill the seven-member French family, if Nigeria and Cameroon refuse to free jailed members of Boko Haram in their respective countries.
Boko Haram purportedly pointed out this condition, among others, in the brief video of the abducted family reportedly released on Monday. The seven-member family in the video was, according to CNN, flanked by armed fighters from the Boko Haram movement.One of the captive men in the released video, was said to have read a statement demanding that Nigeria and Cameroon free jailed members of Boko Haram, which is battling to establish Islamic rule in northern Nigeria, and their families.
The statement reads in part: “Meet all the demands we have mentioned, and if you leave out one of them, we will kill these hostages.” The family, a couple, their four children and an uncle, were seized in a national park in remote northern Cameroon on February 19. Authorities in Cameroon said they were quickly spirited across the border into Nigeria.
“This is the first time there are children hostages. This is an unacceptable situation,” Le Drian said. Meanwhile, French Foreign Minister, Laurent Fabius denounced the video on Monday, saying, “All of the state services are mobilised to free our countrymen… For all of us, these images are terribly shocking. They demonstrate cruelty without limits,” Fabius said in a statement.
This is just too bad for the sect. they’ve gone beyond their boundary now. How I wish they will just raze down the entire community where they find these hostages. I mean the entire village,community or environment where they find the hostages.