France confirms that kidnapped Frenchman freed
The last French national kidnapped in Chad was an aid worker taken in the eastern border area in 2009 and released nearly three months later inside Darfur.
British troops are joining the 13,000-member UNMISS force in South Sudan
“The President of the Republic has learned with great satisfaction about the release of our compatriot, who was abducted in eastern Chad and then taken by his captors to Sudan,” it said in a statement.
Sudan’s national security service said earlier that the man had been freed and was on his way to the capital Khartoum.
The man was kidnapped south of Abeche, a mining area about 800 km (500 miles) east of the capital N’Djamena, a French military source said.
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Chad, a landlocked former French colony, hosts the headquarters of France’s 4,000-strong regional anti-militant operation, known as Barkhane.
It closed its northern border with Libya in January to block militants fleeing the conflict there, and has said it is worried about Islamic State operating in its territory.
Around 1,000 French troops are stationed in Chad, including a small detachment at Abeche.
About 1,500 other French nationals also live in the country.
Two other French nationals are being held in Africa. One was kidnapped in Mali in December by militants and the other was seized in the Democratic Republic of Congo earlier in March.
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