Ansaru Releases Video of Kidnapped French National

A video of 63-year-old French National Francis Collomp, who was kidnapped in Rimi, Katsina State on the 19th of December, by the Nigerian Islamist group Ansaru (Ansar al-Muslimeen)  was released on Friday.

Mr Collomp appears in the video wearing a white t-shirt, with an unidentified man holding a weapon in the background. He can be heard calling for "negotiations" for his "safe release."

In another part of the video, the camera focused on an Arabic statement which addresses “the government(s) of France and Nigeria,” according to the translation provided by SITE(a jihadi tracking website).

While there is no direct threat of further attacks, or on Collomp’s life, the statement vows to treat “treachery and treason” by the French or Nigerian governments with “reciprocity.”

France’s foreign ministry told AFP it was trying to authenticate the video and was in contact with Collomp’s family.

Ansaru is considered by some to be a breakaway faction of Boko Haram, Nigeria’s more prominent Islamist group which has waged a deadly insurgency since 2009.

The links between the two organisations remain in question, but some analysts have said that Ansaru might have emerged from a faction within Boko Haram that sought to specifically target foreign interests.

Ansaru has been blamed for the 2011 kidnapping of a Briton and an Italian national in northern Nigeria. Both hostages were killed in March of last year.

Britain, which has formally labelled Ansaru a terrorist organisation, said the group likely has ties to Al-Qaeda’s north Africa franchise, Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb.