Jihadist groups release new video of kidnapped missionaries in Africa's Sahel
A coalition of jihadist groups has released a new video featuring six foreign hostages, including three missionaries, who were abducted in Africa's Sahel region.
The release of the video came just hours before French President Emmanuel Macron's visit to Mali to consolidate Western support for a regional force against terrorists in the region.
The U.S.-based monitoring group SITE noted that the 17-minute video was posted by Nusrat al-Islam wal Muslimeen (also known as the Group to Support Islam and Muslims or JNIM) on Saturday.
In the video, the six hostages, starting with the males, were individually allowed to send a message to their families and respective governments to ask for help in securing their release.
The first hostage featured in the video was Stephen McGowan, a South African who was kidnapped in Timbuktu, along with three other people in 2011.
He was followed by Ken Elliot, an Australian doctor who was abducted along with his wife in January 2015 in Djibo. His wife, Jocelyn, was released in February 2016, according to BBC.
"This video is to ask various governments, in particular the Australian government and Burkina government, to do what they can to help negotiate my release," Elliot said in the video.
"I just want to say, again, I love you all and I appreciate all your prayers and all your cares. I look forward to one day being reunited," he continued, addressing his family.
The other hostages in the video were Romanian mineworker Iulian Ghergut, who was abducted in Burkina Faso in April 2015; Swiss missionary Beatrice Stockly, kidnapped in Mali in January 2016; Columbian nun Gloria Argoti, who was seized in Mali in February; and French humanitarian Sophie Petronin, who was kidnapped from Gao in December last year.
According to World Watch Monitor, the video is the first proof of life for Argoti, who is in her sixties.
However, there was no mention of American missionary Jeff Woodke, who was kidnapped in Niger in October. Little is known about his condition or whereabouts, and no group has claimed responsibility for the abduction.
Last week, 42-year-old Johan Gustafsson, who was kidnapped alongside McGowan, was freed by Al-Qaeda in Mali.
Another hostage, Dutch national Sjaak Rijke, who was also abducted alongside McGowan, was freed by French special forces in a raid in April 2015.
The release of the video came after leaders of Ansar Dine, the Macina Liberation Front, Al-Mourabitoun and Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) banded together in March to form JNIM.
At the end of the video, an English narrator warned that the families of the hostages would be better off negotiating with the group directly, claiming that there has been no progress made in negotiations via third parties.
Macron is hoping to raise funds for a 5,000-strong force based in central Mali to fight the rising militant attacks. Mali's foreign minister has estimated that the force will cost about €400 million ($454 million), but the EU has only pledged €50 million ($57 million) so far.