A French national working in wildlife conservation was abducted in northeastern Chad by unknown kidnappers, the governments of each countries said Saturday.
Jerome Hugonnot was working for the Sahara Conservation Fund in Wadi Fara province bordering Sudan on the time of his abduction Friday, Chadian government spokesman Aziz Mahamat Saleh said in a press release.
The Chadian government has mobilized all its resources to seek out Hugonnot, Saleh said, adding that the abductors were “individuals not yet identified.” Quite a lot of armed groups operate along the Chad-Sudan border.
“We’re aware of the kidnapping of certainly one of our compatriots in Chad and are in contact together with his family, in addition to with Chadian authorities, so as to obtain his release quickly,” the French foreign ministry said in a press release.
French media reported that Hugonnot also has Australian citizenship.
The Sahara Conservation Fund and its partners have spent years in Chad working to reintroduce a species of desert antelope referred to as the scimitar-horned oryx.