PARIS: France’s last remaining hostage Serge Lazarevic, who was kidnapped by Islamist militants in Mali in 2011, has been freed, President Francois Hollande said on Tuesday.

Serge Lazarevic, 51, was snatched by armed men in Mali on November 24, 2011 while on a business trip with fellow Frenchman Philippe Verdon in a kidnapping claimed by Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM).

There was no immediate information on how the release was secured or whether France paid a ransom. Lazarevic is the last of more than a dozen French citizens taken captive in recent years, with those held in Africa reaching a high of 15 last year. Four journalists held by Syrian jihadists were released earlier this year.

“Our hostage Serge Lazarevic, our last hostage, is free,” Hollande said.

“There are no more French hostages in any country in the world”. The French presidency said a plane carrying Lazarevic’s daughter Diane was on its way to Niger capital Niamey to fetch the former hostage, who would be met by Hollande on his return home.

Published in Dawn December 10th , 2014