That same weekend an elderly Australian couple, Ken and Jocelyn Elliott, living in the North of the country were kidnapped by an Al-Qaeda linked terror group.

The Elliotts moved to Burkina Faso in 1972 to build a clinic in the small town of Djibo where Dr Ken Elliott worked as a surgeon performing up to 150 operations per month. Following their abduction there were regular protest marches by local people calling for the couple to be released.

After three weeks in captivity Mrs Elliott was released in the town of Dosso which is around 400 miles to the east of Djibo. As yet, Dr Ken Elliott has not been released. A Foreign Affairs spokesman for Burkina Faso said that no ransom was paid. ‘For now, we know that her husband is alive and is doing well’, he said. ‘We will do everything we can to get him out.’