We Will Not Negotiate With Boko Haram Over Family Hostage - France

France will not negotiate with gunmen claiming to be from Islamist group Boko Haram who have taken a French family of seven hostage, Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said on Tuesday.The three adults and four children were seized in Cameroon’s far north near the Nigerian border last week. In a video posted online on Monday, the gunmen threatened to kill them unless authorities in Nigeria and Cameroon release Muslim militants held there.

“We do not negotiate on that kind of basis, with these kind of groups,” Le Drian told RTL radio. “We will use all (other) possible means to ensure that these and other (French) hostages are freed.”

“We do not play this bidding game because that’s terrorism,” he said, deploring the fact that children were involved.

The number French citizens that have been kidnapped in the region is a total of 15, with the risk heightened since Paris sent thousands of troops into Mali last month to help the country oust Islamists operating in the north.