A video of a French hostage urging President Francois Hollande to negotiate his release was broadcast on an Arabic TV station Tuesday, more than two years after the Paris-based businessman was kidnapped in Mali.
Wearing a black turban and sporting a long beard, Serge Lazarevic stated his name, the date and place of his abduction, and said the video was recorded on May 13, 2014 before going on to ask Hollande to “do everything to negotiate my release so I can return home”.
Lazarevic was kidnapped by al Qaeda’s North African branch, AQIM (Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb), from the northern Malian town of Hombori on November 29, 2011.
The Paris-based businessman was seized along with a French geologist, Philippe Verdon, a year before northern Mali fell to jihadist control following a March 2012 military coup….
South Africa Today – Africa News – Mali 
