Boko Haram
was paid an equivalent of around $3.15 million by French and Cameroonian
negotiators before freeing seven French hostages this month, a confidential
Nigerian government report obtained by Reuters said.
The memo does not say who paid the ransom for the
family of seven, who were all released on April 19, although it says Cameroon
freed some Boko Haram detainees as part of the deal.
France and
Cameroon reiterated denials that any ransom was paid. Nigerian authorities
declined to comment.
Armed men on
motorcycles snatched Tanguy Moulin-Fournier, his wife, brother and the couple's
four young children, the youngest of whom was four years old, on February 19
while they were on holiday near the Waza national park in north Cameroon, some
10 km (six miles) from the Nigerian border. They were believed to have been
held in northeast Nigeria.
Nigerian
Islamist sect Boko Haram claimed the capture of the family of Moulin-Fournier, who
worked in Cameroon for French utility firm GDF Suez.
French
President Francois Hollande at the time denied any money was paid when the
family was released on April 19.
The Nigerian
report suggests that 1.6 billion CFA francs ($3.15 million) was paid, but that
right up until the last minute Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau had insisted
on double that, before agreeing to reduce it if some Boko Haram members in
Cameroonian jails were freed.
Reacting to
the report, a French foreign ministry official said that France has passed a
clear message that it does not pay ransoms. Cameroon government spokesman Issa
Tchiroma Bakary said "Cameroon did not pay any ransom".
A spokesman
for Nigeria's government declined to comment.
The report
suggests Nigerian security forces decided not to try to rescue the hostages so
as not to endanger their lives. A botched rescue attempt of a British and an
Italian hostage believed to have been held by Islamist sect Ansaru in March
last year resulted in both hostages being killed.
French news
network i-tele reported earlier on Friday that a ransom had of $7 million had
been paid, suggesting either Cameroon President Paul Biya or GDF-Suez had paid
it.
Eight French
hostages are being held in the Sahel region, although the fate of one of them
is unclear after al-Qaeda's north African arm last month said it had beheaded
Philippe Verdon.
Hollande has
said Paris has ended a policy of paying ransoms for hostages, but suspicion
that the country still does despite official denials has been a source of
tension with the United States.
France
brushed off an allegation by a former U.S. diplomat that it paid a $17 million
ransom in vain for the release of four hostages abducted in 2010 from Niger.
Hollande
told the family of the Sahel hostages in January that the new policy also meant
that he had told companies and insurance firms to not pay ransoms.
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