By Hajer M'tiri
PARIS
The terrorist group Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb has released a video of French and Dutch hostages pleading for help from their governments.
The Elysee Palace, the office of French President Francois Hollande, confirmed Monday that the video was authentic.
"The president is in constant contact with the authorities of the countries in the region to use all forms of dialogue to obtain the release of our hostages," read the statement issued by the Elysee.
In the one-minute video, published by the terrorist group, also known by the initials AQIM, Frenchman Serge Lazarevic, who has held in northeast Mali since November, 2011, appeared dressed all in black. He asked Hollande to "do everything" to free him, adding that he held Holland "responsible for everything that will happen."
"I am very sick. My kidneys hurt, and I am suffering from very high blood pressure," Lazarevic said. "I fear my life is in danger since the French intervention in Iraq.”
He was referring to France's participation in the U.S.-led coalition against the terrorist group known as the Islamic State of Iraq and Levant, or ISIL.
Lazarevic, 50, is the last known French hostage anywhere in the world.
"You have freed all the French; I am the last one," he said in the video. "I hope not to be the eighth of the French nationals killed in the Sahel."
Until the release of the video, Lazarevic's fate had been uncertain. Hollande said Nov. 6 that Lazarevic was "probably" still alive.
Lazarevic appeared in a similar video in June, calling for his country to take action to secure his release. He was kidnapped Nov.24, 2011 with another French citizen, Philippe Verdon, from a hotel in Mali.
In March, 2013, AQIM said it had executed Verdon, claiming he was a spy and saying the execution was in retaliation for the French military intervention in Mali.
Dutch hostage Sjaak Rijke, 54, who was abducted from a restaurant in Timbuktu in November, 2011, complained of health and emotional problems, and pleaded for his government to help him.
www.aa.com.tr/en
