French hostages’ plea

Published April 15, 2007

KABUL, April 14: Two French aid workers kidnapped by Taliban in Afghanistan have made a tearful appeal to Paris for help, saying otherwise they will be beheaded and their heads returned to France.

“Please do what they want,” said a Frenchwoman who identified herself as Celine in a video CD on Saturday. “Do what they request because they told us that they would kill us. They would, they would cut our head (off) and send it back to France.”

Celine and male French companion Eric, working for Terre d'Enfance, were kidnapped on April 5 with three Afghan colleagues in Nimroz province.

The Taliban have not detailed any ransom demands and the French pair did not say what was needed for their release. Terre d'Enfance focuses on education and other projects for children.

The video also shows the three Afghan hostages, named by the French pair as Hazrat, Rasoul and Hashim, crouching and blindfolded, with a man whose face was hidden by a traditional black and white Afghan scarf standing over them with a gun.

Eric, with a light beard and looking drawn, said: “I ask to the prime minister, to parliament, to the president, to answer all the demands of the Taliban. If you don’t answer, then we will be killed.”—Reuters

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