Terrorists release hostages footage as French president visits nation

AN AL-QAIDA-LINKED group in Mali has released a proof-of-life video showing six foreign hostages, as French President Emmanuel Macron arrived in the country for an anti-terror summit.

The Nusrat al-Islam wal Muslimeen group issued the video the SITE Intelligence Group said.

It shows Stephen McGowan of South Africa, Elliot Kenneth Arthur of Australia, Iulian Ghergut of Romania, Beatrice Stockly of Switzerland, Gloria Cecilia Narvaez of Colombia and Sophie Petronin of France.

“No genuine negotiations have begun to rescue your children,” a narrator says. The narrator also mentions the recently-elected Mr Macron, saying Ms Petronin “is hoping that the new French president will come to her rescue”.

Mr Macron is meeting heads of state from five nations across Africa’s Sahel region to build support for a new 5,000-strong multi-national force meant to counter extremists there.

Deadly attacks in recent years in countries once considered relatively safe have alarmed the international community.

In March, a video announced the creation of Nusrat al-Islam wal Muslimeen from a merger of thr ee e xtremi st g roups: the al-Qaida-linked al-Mourabitoun, Ansar Dine and al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb.

Nusrat al-Islam wal Muslimeen claimed responsibility for last month’s attack on a resort area popular with foreigners outside Mali’s capital that killed at least five people.

A number of the hostages in Mali have been held for years. Of the six shown in the video, Mr McGowan was the earliest seized, abducted in 2011 from a hostel in Timbuktu.

Ms Narvaez, a nun, was the most recently seized, abducted in February near the border with Burkina Faso.