Franco-Australian Hostage in Chad is Free And Safe, Chad PM Says

Vehicles for the Mobile Police Intervention Group (GMIP) are seen during the hand over by the Chad government to the police force at the General Directorate of the National Police in N’Djamena, Chad, on March 15, 2021The Sahara Conservation Fund, where the kidnapped Franco-Australian activist worked, was established to protect the wildlife of the Sahara and neighboring Sahelian grasslands. The fund, in particular, is working to reintroduce the scimitar-horned oryx, a species of desert antelope which has gone extinct in the wild.Jerome Hugonnot, a dual citizen of France and Australia, was freed on Sunday, Chad’s Prime Minister Saleh Kebzabo stated.”I just found out that the French-Australian hostage … has just been found and taken to a safe place, he is healthy,” Kebzabo wrote on Twitter.The Prime Minister also congratulated the defense and security forces of Chad on the successful operation. No additional details about the kidnapping were immediately revealed.Unknown kidnappers abducted the French and Australian citizen in northeastern Chad, the governments of both countries said Saturday.Jerome Hugonnot was working for the Sahara Conservation Fund in Wadi Fara province, which borders Sudan, when he was kidnapped on Friday, according to Chadian government spokesman Aziz Mahamat Saleh.Previously, Saleh noted that the Chadian government is doing everything possible to find Hugonnot.The incident took place amid the instability in the country which has taken place since Chadian Interim President Mahamat Idriss Déby Itno backed out of his pledge to return the country to civilian rule 18 months after his father’s death.The president accused outside forces of endorsing raging demonstrations in the country, saying that protests were a “carefully orchestrated insurgency to create chaos in the country”.Déby did not name any specific foreign nation to blame for the protests, but it was immediately assumed that Paris was behind them.The French Foreign Ministry issued a statement saying, “France is not playing any part in these events, which are strictly in Chad’s domestic political domain.”AfricaChad’s Déby Accuses ‘Foreign Powers’ of Backing Anti-Government Protests as Paris Denies Involvement25 October, 19:41 GMT

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