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HOSTAGE

French executive is kidnapped by mistake

Kidnappers have apologized to the wife of a Frenchman they took hostage in Madagascar this week after admitting they got the wrong man. Despite the mistake the hostage takers are still demanding a €244,000 ransom payment.

French executive is kidnapped by mistake
File photo of a busy street in the Madagascan capital of Antananarivo. Photo: Bernard Gagnon

Kidnappers in Madagascar are demanding €244,000 to free a French hostage, despite admitting they had intended to snatch his colleague, police said Wednesday.

François Raphael, director of construction firm Henri Fraise, was kidnapped from his car by four balaclava-clad men armed with a Kalashnikov and an automatic pistol on Monday evening.

The kidnappers contacted his wife on Tuesday and apologized, saying they had wanted to kidnap the company's chairman who is currently in New York.

But the gang is still seeking a ransom for his release.

"They are now demanding 3.5 million Malagasy francs (€244,000) but no payment has been made yet," said Antananarivo criminal squad commissioner Fidy Andriamandry.

Originally, the men demanded some $395,000 (300,000 euro), but this price was dropped after telephone negotiations with the family.

Raphael, 39, has lived in Madagascar for 10 months. He is married and has three children.

Kidnappings have increased on the Indian Ocean island in recent months, where security has worsened since the ouster of president Marc Ravalomanana in
2009.

This is the first time that a French citizen has been a victim of kidnapping, with Indian nationals and large traders usually targeted.

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HOSTAGE

Swiss hostage ‘killed by jihadis in Mali’: ministry

A Swiss woman being held hostage in Mali "was apparently killed by kidnappers... about a month ago", Bern's foreign ministry said in a statement Friday.

Swiss hostage 'killed by jihadis in Mali': ministry
The information was provided by Sophie Petronin (above), who returned to France on Friday after four years in captivity. Photo: Stringer/AFP
“It was with great sadness that I learned of the death of our fellow citizen,” foreign affairs chief Ignazio Cassis said, adding that “I condemn this cruel act and express my deepest sympathy to the relatives”.
   
Switzerland did not release the name of the hostage who had been killed, but said they had been held by the Group to Support Islam and Muslims (GSIM), an alliance comprising several jihadist groups aligned to al-Qaeda that has claimed responsibility for some of the biggest attacks in the Sahel region.
   
The foreign ministry (DFAE) said that “information about the killing was obtained by the French authorities from the recently released French hostage” Sophie Petronin, who returned to France on Friday after being freed by the Malian insurgents following almost four years in captivity.
 
   
Swiss authorities “are making every effort to find out more about the circumstances of the killing and the whereabouts of the remains,” the DFAE said, adding  that it “demands handing over” of the hostage's body.
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