Freed French hostages arrive home after 3 years

[October 30, 2013]  PARIS (AP) -- Four Frenchmen held hostage by al-Qaida militants landed in France on Wednesday after three years in captivity in the punishing African Sahel.

The wife and daughters of one hostage, Daniel Larribe, rushed to hug him, and the three held each other while crying. Other friends and family snapped photos of their loved ones finally home.

President Francois Hollande greeted each of the hostages on the tarmac at a military airport outside Paris.

At the time of their capture, the four -- Pierre Legrand, Thierry Dol, Marc Feret and Larribe -- were working in Arlit, Niger, where the French state-controlled nuclear giant Areva operates a uranium mine. They were retrieved by French officials in northern Mali on Tuesday.

Both countries are in Sahel, the trans-Saharan badlands that go from the Atlantic Ocean to the Red Sea in Africa.

Amid the emotional homecoming in France, however, there were questions about why the men were taken captive in the first place and whether a ransom was paid to secure their release.

The global intelligence company Stratfor estimates that al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb, or AQIM, has carried out at least 18 kidnappings since 2003, raising an estimated $89 million in ransom payments.

Alain Legrand said that while he was thrilled at the release of his son, Pierre, he would be looking for explanations.

"My son is 28. He's spent more than one of out every 10 days of his life in captivity. I would like someone to explain to me why," he told French television.

Pascal Lupart, who, as the head of an association representing friends and families of the hostages, is in touch with those investigating the case, said he was told that Areva paid a ransom for the captives. He did not know the amount, however.

The French government says its policy is not to pay ransoms, a policy reiterated by Hollande on Tuesday. An Areva press officer, Julien Duperray, also said on Wednesday that there was no ransom paid.

The former hostages spent their first night of freedom in the Niger capital, Niamey, and left for Paris early Wednesday morning. Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius and Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian had flown to Niger to pick them up. Fabius joked that some of the men slept on the floor of their rooms, finding the mattresses too soft after their ordeal.

[Associated Press; By SARAH DiLORENZO]

Associated Press writer Rukmini Callimachi contributed to this report from Dakar, Senegal.

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