Obviously ransom must have been paid because they cannot just be release like that, the other way is to be rescued by JTF which did not happen because if they were rescued by now JTF will be bragging about their victory as usual.

maasoap: And they say boko haram are ghosts. How did negotiation take place since it wasnt a raid?

this clearly shos that govt knows bh and bh knows govt. it is unfortunate that these goons use human lives to play politics, why not just stop the whole caloursnss.

They probably paid a ransom
http://m.washingtonpost.com/world/africa/cameroon-says-french-family-of-7-taken-hostage-freed-after-2-months-in-captivity/2013/04/19/898c2060-a8c3-11e2-9e1c-bb0fb0c2edd9_story.html

DOUALA, Cameroon —A French family with four young children kidnapped at gunpoint by Islamic extremists in northern Cameroon was freed after two months in captivity, returning Friday to safety in the Cameroonian capital.

Cameroonian television showed the family of seven —the children, their parents and their uncle —stepping off an airplane, a man who had grown a thick beard carrying the smallest child. All appeared thin, but walked steadily.

Officials from France and Cameroon offered no details on how the family was freed overnight, and it was not clear whether there were concessions to the kidnappers.

Tanguy Moulin-Fournier, the father of the family, also gave no specifics in a brief radio interview, beyond saying the group learned their release was imminent just a few hours beforehand and that their return to safety went well.

Their two-month captivity “was long. It was difficult. It was hard physically and psychologically,” he told France Inter radio.

French President Francois Hollande said authorities made contact with the kidnappers through intermediaries, and negotiations intensified in recent days. He reiterated France’s official policy against ransom payments.

“We use all our contacts, but remain firm on our principles,” Hollande said. “We are not changing the principle that France does not pay ransoms.”

France has come under criticism over what diplomats and analysts say is an unofficial policy of indirectly paying ransoms through middlemen over the years. Vicki Huddleston, a former U.S. ambassador to Mali, alleged that France paid a $17 million ransom to free hostages seized from a French mining site —cash she said ultimately funded the al-Qaida-linked militants in Mali. French officials deny paying any ransoms.

The French foreign minister said the family was expected to return to France on Saturday.

The Feb. 19 kidnapping came as thousands of French troops were deeply involved in a military intervention against Islamic extremists in the West African country of Mali, and the French statement recalled that eight other French citizens are still being held hostage in the Sahel region of Africa.

Moulin-Fournier is an employee of the French gas group GDF Suez and worked in Yaounde. The vacationing group comprised three adults and four children, whom French media reported were between 5 and 12 years old.

“We were not involved in any negotiations but we knew that French authorities were very active,” Gerard Mastrallet, the head of GDF, said in an interview with RTL radio.

Last month, a video surfaced showing a man who appeared to be Moulin-Fournier. The man said his family was in the custody of the Islamic radical sect known as Boko Haram which wants all its members freed, especially women and children held in Nigerian and Cameroonian custody.

Boko Haram has been waging a campaign of bombings and shootings across Nigeria’s north. They are held responsible for more than 790 deaths last year, and dozens more since the beginning of this year.

Moulin-Fournier had said his family was not doing well in captivity.

“We lose force (strength) every day and start to be sick; we will not stay very long like this,” he said in the recording.

Neither Nigeria nor Cameroon reported any Boko Haram members were freed.

Brig. Gen. Chris Olukolade, a Nigerian defense ministry spokesman, told The Associated Press on Friday that the release followed a “meticulous collaboration between the Nigerian security forces and French counterparts, as well as others.” However, he declined to offer any other information.

“I can only inform you that we collaborated,” he said.

Nigerian presidential spokesman Reuben Abati and a spokeswoman for Nigeria’s domestic spy agency also declined to comment. However, it appeared Nigerian authorities were caught off-guard by the announcement

No more money to feed them or what?

[quote author=maasoap]And they say boko haram are ghosts. How did negotiation take place since it wasnt a raid?








Nigeria consulted a seare & the seare consulted the gods & the gods contacted the BOKO guys & they wea release, ..... simple mathematice is not to you?

Abujafood: So I guess the Fed. Govt was right about them being alive all along!

No I believe you are mistaking it with the other case - the kidnapped and apparently executed foreign construction workers in the northern part of Bauchi. That was also carried out by Ansaru and not BH

seunlayi: His Excellency got it right this time. I am still expecting more of this.

Yeszir

People are easily confused. FG was talking about the executed construction workers that it believe that the executed workers were still alive. FG was not talking about French family.

Abujafood: So I guess the Fed. Govt was right about them being alive all along!

No thats another set of captives said to have been killed. The 7 construction workers that included French and Lebanese citizens.Boko Harem said they killed them and showed grainy pictures and the Govt said they may still be alive.

emmanuel4758: Buhari people god go punish una mtchew cows dats wy i said awusa parent stop givin ur child cow milk cus it wil make dem think like cow

So what type of animal's milk do u consume? Dnt tel me peak milk is made from a "pig" milk

Thank God for them...they would have paid for France's attrocities in Mali

The Boko Haram, its emergence, its no-one-know -them ghost story , the bombings, the amnesty ...... all na script been acted by the FG. The truth shall come out one day only that the sacrificial deads won't be around to listen.

They were handed over to the Cameroon authorities late thursday night. GOOD. So where have they been hidden all this while despite the manhunt by JTF?? And who handed them to the Cameroon authority? So negotiation has been going on all this while. They should tell us the truth now o! OK

Thank God they are alive. GEJ get it right just this once.

Ifetex: A French family of seven including four children kidnapped in north Cameroon and taken to Nigeria by suspected Boko Haram militants have been released, a senior Cameroon official said on Friday.

"They are all alive and well," Ferdinand Ngoh Ngoh, secretary general of Cameroon's presidency, said in a statement carried by state radio. He said the family had been handed to Cameroon authorities late on Thursday.

The family, which was on holiday, was abducted in February by men on motorcycles, armed with Kalashnikovs in Dabanga about 10 km (six miles) from the Nigerian border near the Waza national park, reports Reuters.

Gunmen claiming to be from Nigerian Islamist group Boko Haram later released videos of the family, threatening to kill them if authorities in Nigeria and Cameroon did not release Muslim militants held there.

The parents of the family, which included two boys and two girls as well as another relative, worked for French utility firm GDF Suez.

http://www.thisdaylive.com/articles/cameroon-boko-haram-have-released-kidnapped-french-family/145386/

Oh thank God....i feel most for the little boy.

Afritop: THIS COULD MEAN THAT THE FED GOVT HAVE RELEASED THE DARE DEVIL BOKO HARAM MEMBERS IN EXCHANGE FOR THE RELEASE OF THE FRENCH FAMILY. Its disturbing dat while the USA have launched a massive coordinated manhunt for an identified 19 year old who was responsible for the Boston bombings in less than a week, ours are finding it difficult 2 catch terrorists guilty of bombing, ethnic violence in plateau, kidnapping in the south. In short we have the excuse of being on Top of the situation, only to give out amnesty

U are right Man , I suggest u join Nigerian Intelligent team to catch up with d insulgency cos u seems more smarter than them, for any one against the amnesty ! Pls relocate with ur family to BURNU Maiduguri and stand on No support for Amnesty.... This is d only thing that can justify ur point bro.

Thank God.

maasoap: And they say boko haram are ghosts. How did negotiation take place since it wasnt a raid?

I wonder

An after thought and Another gimmick by the dreaded Boko Bombers to deceive Nigerian Government that they are ready for dialogue. Federal should not take them serious nor deal with them, they are simply terrorist and nothing more.

Lot unanswered question as 2 hw d were released unhurt,but tank God d re alive and well,may God continue 2 deliver his people 4rm d hands of dis evil sect

Lots of unanswered question as 2 hw d were released unhurt,but tank God d re alive and well,may God continue 2 deliver his people 4rm d hands of dis evil sect

Good news.

according to the boko haram top leader they ar the one that release the french family. And he said he ordered the stopped of attacked on nigerian securities unless they attacked their members. From voa hausa.

am not suprise that they realise the family but am sure that boko boko tugs are workin with al-kailda...