Kidnapped Australian Doctor shown alive in ‘proof-of-life’ Video

Kidnapped Australian Doctor shown alive in ‘proof-of-life’ Video

By Michael Ireland, Chief Correspondent for the ASSIST News Service (www.assistnews.net)

BRISBANE, AUSTRALIA (ANS – July 5, 2017) -- An al-Qaeda-linked group in the West African country of Mali has released a proof-of-life video showing six foreign hostages, including Australian surgeon Ken Elliott, according to a group that monitors jihadist communications.

According to Mark Schliebs, a Brisbane-based reporter for The Australian (www.theaustralian.com.au), the recently formed Nusrat al-Islam wal Muslimeen issued the video on Saturday on encrypted messaging service Telegram, the SITE Intelligence Group said.

The newspaper reports that Dr. Elliott was abducted with his wife Jocelyn, 76, a humanitarian worker, in January last year. Jocelyn Elliott was released in February last year.

The video shows Dr. Elliott, 82, South African Stephen McGowan, Iulian Ghergut of Romania, Beatrice Stockly of Switzerland, Colombian Gloria Cecilia Narvaez, and Sophie ­Petronin of France.

The first proof that Australian doctor Ken Elliott is still alive in nearly 18 months was released by al-Qaeda’s branch in the African Sahara.

Dr. Elliott, 82, and his wife Jocelyn, were kidnapped from their home near a health clinic they set up in northern Burkina Faso by militants in January 2016.

Mrs. Elliott, 77, was freed the following month in Niger after the jihadist captors claimed they did not want “to make women involved in the war.”

Over the weekend, the Mali based Nusrat al-Islam wal Muslimeen, also known as the Group to Support Islam and Muslims, released a video of Dr. Elliott and five other hostages.

The release coincided with a visit to Mali by French president Emmanuel Macron, who said he was pleased that one of his citizens, Sophie Petronin, was still alive after being kidnapped by the militants.

“These people are nothing,” Mr. Macron said of the jihadists. “They are terrorists, thugs and assassins. And we will put all of our energies into eradicating them.”

The Elliotts, originally from Perth, Australia, had run a 120-bed charit­able hospital in rural Burkina Faso, near the border with Mali, for more than four decades.

Dr. Elliott has lived in Burkina Faso since 1972. After he and his wife were kidnapped, residents of Djibo, the town where they worked, called for their release.

“No genuine negotiations have begun to rescue your children,” a narrator on the proof of life video says, according to www.news.com.au.

The narrator also mentions the recently elected French President Emmanuel Macron, saying that Ms. Petronin “is hoping that the new French president will come to her rescue.”

Mr. Macron said he welcomed the first sign of life for several months from Ms. Petronin. “These people are nothing,” he said of the extremists.

“They are terrorists, thugs and assassins. And we will put all of our energies into eradicating them.”

Mr. Macron met with heads of state from five nations across Africa’s Sahel region on Sunday to build support for a new 5000-strong multinational force meant to counter extremists there.

Deadly attacks in recent years in countries once considered relatively safe have alarmed the international community.

In March, a video announced the creation of Nusrat al-Islam wal Muslimeen from a merger of three extremist groups: the al-Qaeda-linked al-Mourabitoun, Ansar Dine and al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb.

Nusrat al-Islam wal Muslimeen claimed responsibility for last month’s attack on a resort area popular with foreigners outside Mali’s capital that killed at least five people.

A number of the hostages in Mali have been held for years.

Of the six shown in the video, McGowan was the earliest seized, abducted in 2011 from a hostel in Timbuktu. Narvaez, a nun, was the most recently seized, abducted in February near the border with Burkina Faso.

The video comes after Sweden’s government on Monday announced the release of Johan Gustafsson, who was held by Islamic extremists in Mali for six years.

Photo captions: 1) Kidnapped Aussie doctor Ken Elliott has appeared in a proof of life video released by Nusrat al-Islam wal Muslimeen, al-Qaeda’s branch in the African Sahara. 2) The Australian surgeon and his wife Jocelyn were kidnapped by jihadists in Burkina Faso in 2016. (Source: Facebook) 3) French President Emmanuel Macron speaks during G5 Sahel Summit at the Koulouba Presidential Palace in Bamako, Mali, July 2, 2017. (Reuters/Luc Gnago). 4) Michael Ireland.

About the Writer: Michael Ireland is a volunteer internet journalist serving as Chief Correspondent for the ASSIST News Service, as well as an Ordained Minister who has served with ASSIST Ministries and written for ANS since its beginning in 1989. He has reported for ANS from Jamaica, Mexico, Nicaragua, Israel, Jordan, China, and Russia. Please consider helping Michael cover his expenses in bringing news of the Persecuted Church, by logging-on to: https://actintl.givingfuel.com/ireland-michael

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