Nigerian Islamist group Ansaru (Ansar al-Muslimeen) on Friday released a video of a French national kidnapped in December, the SITE jihadi tracking website said.
In the video, posted online, the hostage identifies himself as 63-year-old Francis Collomp, an engineer with the French firm Vergnet, who was “kidnapped in Rimi in Katsina state on 19 December 2012 till today, 25 September 2013.”
The hostage appears wearing a white t-shirt, with an unidentified person holding a weapon in the background.
If authentic, it would be the first video of Collomp to emerge since his abduction.
Parts of the short statement are not clear, but he can be heard calling for “negotiations” for his “safe release.”
In the latter half of the three-minute video, the camera focuses on an Arabic statement that addresses “the government(s) of France and Nigeria,” according to the translation provided by SITE.
While there is no direct threat of further attacks, or on Collomp’s life, the statement vows to treat “treachery and treason” by the French or Nigerian governments with “reciprocity.” [AFP]
