Dr. Kenneth Elliot's wife, kidnapped with her in January 2016 in northern Burkina Faso, called on her captors to release him in a short video released on Friday. "In my misfortune and weakness I beg you to send Ken (Kenneth) back to his family when he has helped you in these difficult times and when you see fit," said Jocelyn Elliot (88) in French to the kidnappers. kidnapped with her doctor husband in January 2016 in Burkina Faso, but quickly released. The kidnapping was claimed by Ansar Dine, a jihadist group of the former Tuareg Malian rebel leader Iyad Ag Ghaly, head of the Support Group for Islam and Muslims (GSIM).
Jocelyn Elliot had been handed over by his captors to the Nigerien authorities about a month after his abduction. She then returned to Burkina before returning to Australia. Head covered with a blue veil, Jocelyn Elliot also addressed her husband, "a selfless man, at the service of all, wishing to be faithful to his principles and animated by the desire to help others" . A native of Perth, Arthur Kenneth Elliott (86) and his wife Jocelyn (88) have lived in Burkina since 1972 and were engaged in humanitarian operations for the populations of the province of Soum and those of the neighboring countries of Mali and Niger .
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The couple was kidnapped in Djibo (on the border with Mali and Niger) on the night of January 15 to 16, 2016 during an action apparently coordinated with the Ouagadougou attacks. That night, jihadists opened fire in the cafes, restaurants and hotels of Kwame-Nkrumah Avenue, the Mecca of nightlife in Ouagadougou, leaving 30 dead and 71 injured.
Numerous hostage-taking concerning foreigners have taken place in recent years in Burkina Faso, confronted since 2015 with increasingly frequent and deadly jihadist attacks. In December 2018, an Italian-Canadian couple disappeared on the road between Bobo-Dioulasso and Ouagadougou. They had been released in neighboring Mali after more than a year in captivity. In September 2018, an Indian and a South African were kidnapped from the Inata gold mine in the northwest. In total, six hostages, including Dr. Kenneth Elliot, kidnapped in northern Burkina Faso, are still captive in Mali, in a camp near the border with Burkina.