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Former French hostages released by the French special forces in northern Burkina Faso, at the cost of the death of two soldiers, arrived this Saturday at the Villacoublay air base (Yvelines) where they were greeted by the head of the State Emmanuel Macron. The plane carrying Laurent Lassimouillas and Patrick Picque, kidnapped May 1 in Benin, as well as a former South Korean hostage landed shortly before 18:00 on the tarmac.
Patrick Picque, 51, and Laurent Lassimouillas, 46, landed at the Villacoublay military airport around 18:00, with the unidentified South Korean hostage.
Emmanuel Macron, who was accompanied by Foreign and Military Ministers Jean-Yves Le Drian and Florence Parly, and by the Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces, General François Lecointre, exchanged a few words with the hostages, but did not speak publicly. The ambassador of South Korea was also present.
Before their arrival in France, Patrick Pique and Laurent Lassimouillas presented Saturday morning their condolences to the families of the two soldiers on the occasion of their reception Saturday morning to the presidency of Burkina Faso .
The American hostage, whose identity was not identified, was to be repatriated to the United States.
A national tribute to the two naval commandos killed in the operation, the master Cédric de Pierrepont, born in 1986, and the master Alain Bertoncello, born in 1991 will be organized Tuesday at the Invalides. Their death brings to 27 the number of French soldiers killed since Operation Serval in Mali in 2013, which was succeeded by Barkhane in 2014.