The BBC:http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/8533195.stm

A French hostage who was being held by al-Qaeda's North African wing in Mali has been freed days after four militants were released from jail. The group had threatened to kill Pierre Camatte, abducted from a hotel near the border with Niger on 25 November, if its four members were not set free. Mali's authorities said the four had served their sentences and were due to be freed.
But their release sparked outrage in Algeria and Mauritania.
French President Sarkozy meets French ex-hostage in Mali:http://af.reuters.com/article/topNew...61O01G20100225