Freed Australian hostage vows to carry on Burkina work

Ouagadougou (AFP) - An elderly Australian humanitarian worker kidnapped by Al-Qaeda-linked jihadists in Burkina Faso said Monday after her release that she hoped to be reunited with her husband and "continue" their medical work in the country.

"I want to be with my husband shortly so that we can go to Djibo and continue there," Jocelyn Elliott, 76, said at Burkina Faso's presidential palace.

Elliott and her 81-year-old surgeon husband Ken have run the sole medical clinic in Djibo, a dusty town close to the border with Mali, since 1972. They were abducted close to the Nigerien border on the night of January 15-16.

Malian militant group Ansar Dine said the couple had been taken by jihadists from the "Emirate of the Sahara" -- suspected by experts to be a branch of Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb.

Elliott was freed after mediation from Niger, which is now trying to secure her husband's release.

She arrived in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso's capital, on Monday aboard a Nigerien presidential plane and was taken to the presidential palace, where she was greeted by head of state Roch Marc Christian Kabore.

"I am very moved to be here with my Burkina family. I want to thank the people of Burkina for their support in my absence," she said in French.

She also thanked "the governments of Niger, Burkina Faso and Australia".

Foreign Minister Alpha Barry confirmed Elliott's intentions.

"She has decided to stay in Burkina Faso," Barry told AFP.

Elliott had appeared on Nigerien television Sunday evening alongside President Mahamadou Issoufou, who confirmed Niger had mediated but did not give details on either the circumstances or the location of her release.

He paid tribute to the Elliotts for their work.

"I think those who abducted them should know the contribution this couple have made to the poorest people in our regions. I hope they will be back together soon and that Jocelyn's husband will soon go free," Issoufou said.

- 'No ransom paid' -

Barry said on Sunday that the focus was now on securing the release of Ken Elliott.

"For now we know that her husband is alive and well. Now further negotiations will begin for his release and we will do everything to secure it," said Barry, adding that "no ransom was paid or conditions imposed" by the kidnappers for the release of Jocelyn Elliott.

The Burkina government had said the pair were kidnapped in Baraboule, near the country's borders with both Niger and Mali.

The kidnapping prompted an outpouring of support, with the people of Djibo turning to Facebook to plead for the couple's release and hundreds of students with placards reading "Free Elliott" taking to the streets of the town with their teachers.

Their abduction coincided with a jihadist assault on an upmarket hotel in Burkina Faso's capital Ouagadougou that left at least 30 people dead, including many foreigners.

Until recently Burkina Faso had largely escaped the tide of Islamist violence spreading in the restive Sahel region.

But the January attack on the Splendid Hotel, which is popular with foreigners and United Nations staff, has heightened fears that jihadist groups are casting their net wider in west Africa.

Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull thanked Niger and Burkina Faso for their efforts, while the Elliott family released a statement saying they were "deeply grateful" for Jocelyn's release.

In other comments, Elliott clarified that she was aged 76 and her husband was 81. Their ages had previously been given by officials as 84 and 82 respectively.