French family of 7 taken hostage in Cameroon freed

A French family with four young children kidnapped at gunpoint by Islamic extremists in northern Cameroon was freed after two months in captivity, returning Friday to safety in the Cameroonian capital.

Cameroonian television showed the family of seven — the children, their parents and their uncle — stepping off an airplane, a man who had grown a thick beard carrying the smallest child. All appeared thin, but walked steadily.

Officials from France and Cameroon offered no details on how the family was freed overnight, and it was not clear whether there were concessions to the kidnappers.

Tanguy Moulin-Fournier, the father of the family, also gave no specifics in a brief radio interview, beyond saying the group learned their release was imminent just a few hours beforehand and that their return to safety went well.

Their two-month captivity "was long. It was difficult. It was hard physically and psychologically," he told France Inter radio.

French President Francois Hollande said authorities made contact with the kidnappers through intermediaries, and negotiations intensified in recent days. He reiterated France's official policy against ransom payments.

http://www.chron.com/news/crime/article/Cameroon-says-French-family-taken-hostage-freed-4447023.php

France has come under criticism over what diplomats and analysts say is an unofficial policy of indirectly paying ransoms through middlemen over the years. Vicki Huddleston, a former U.S. ambassador to Mali, alleged that France paid a $17 million ransom to free hostages seized from a French mining site — cash she said ultimately funded the al-Qaida-linked militants in Mali. French officials deny paying any ransoms.