Kidnapped French priest freed in Cameroon

YAOUNDE - A French Roman Catholic priest held hostage for seven weeks by Islamic militants in Cameroon arrived home in France on Wednesday a day after his release, hailed as a New Year's gift.

Georges Vandenbeusch, 42, who was freed on Tuesday, said he had not been mistreated by his captors despite being kept in "rustic conditions".

Smiling, and freshly shaven, the priest was greeted in Paris by President Francois Hollande and a group of loved ones.

Vandenbeusch was kidnapped on November 13 by heavily armed men who burst into his parish at night in the far north of the central African country and took him to neighbouring Nigeria.

The radical Islamist movement Boko Haram, which has killed thousands of people in attacks against Christians and government targets in northern Nigeria, claimed responsibility for holding the French priest soon after he was kidnapped.

Vandenbeusch described his time in captivity as a period of "terrible boredom, sadness and anger because I'm very fond of the parish where I worked" in Cameroon.

"I was under a tree for a month and a half," he said, explaining that his two main guards spoke a local language and not English, he did not have anything to read, or a radio to listen to.

French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius, who went to collect the priest in Cameroon, hailed his release as "the best end of year gift".

While the circumstances of the priest's release are unclear, Fabius insisted that France, often accused of paying ransoms for hostages despite stiff government denials, had not paid for the release of the priest.

"The French government does not pay ransoms. There were discussions," Fabius told journalists.

Six French hostages still held

The Vatican welcomed the priest's release and called on the faithful to pray for those still being held around the world.

"We hope that all forms of violence, hatred and conflict in the tormented regions of Africa be stamped out, as well as elsewhere in the world," Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi said.

In his former parish of Sceaux, near Paris, the bells rang on Tuesday to celebrate his release.

"This church prayed for him a lot. Every day, candles were lit. You had to believe in it," said Marie, a 45-year-old worshipper.

In a statement, his family thanked French, Cameroonian and Nigerian authorities and all those who supported them during the ordeal.

"At this time of joy, we do not forget the other French hostages, and are thinking of their families," they said.

There are still six French people being held hostage in Mali and Syria, and Hollande also reiterated his support for their families.

Vandenbeusch was abducted from his home near the town of Koza in northern Cameroon, about 30 kilometres (20 miles) from the Nigerian border.

He was seized by about 15 people who had first gone to the nuns' house, apparently to look for money, giving him time to warn the embassy.

At the time, Hollande had promised everything was being done to find him, but had also warned other French citizens against putting themselves in harm's way.

The priest had been advised not to stay on in an area designated as a dangerous zone prone to militancy and kidnappings.

In February, a Frenchman employed by gas group Suez was kidnapped in the same area together with his wife, their four children and his brother while visiting a national park.

They were taken to neighbouring Nigeria and also held by Boko Haram, before being released in April.