A Central Otago man is asking for people to pray for Islamist extremists to release his close friend.
Jim and Helen Harrington, of Cromwell, are close friends and former neighbours of the Australian couple kidnapped from a village in Burkina Faso, West Africa.
The couple, Dr Ken Elliott and his wife Jocelyn, were abducted from Djibo near the Mali border on January 16.
The kidnapping followed an attack in the capital Ouagadougou by Islamic extremists, which killed 28 people.
Al Qaeda freed a ‘‘bruised'' Mrs Elliott in Niger on Sunday. ‘‘It's really good news,'' Mr Harrington said. ‘‘We are still keen for people to continue to pray for Ken's release.''
The Perth couple, now in their 80s, moved to Burkina Faso in 1972 to set up a medical clinic in Djibo.
The Harringtons were missionaries in Djibo between 1991 and 2003 and two of their four daughters were born there, delivered by Dr Elliott.
A militant group that claimed responsibility for the kidnapping said, in a statement released on the Telegram channel of Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, the motive for the kidnapping was to gain release of ‘‘our captives who sit behind bars and suffer the pain of imprisonment, as well as being deprived of their basic rights''.
The group said it was releasing Mrs Elliott following guidance from Al Qaeda leaders to not involve women in war.
Mr Harrington doubted the reason given for release.
‘‘Some of the suicide bombers involved recently in Al Qaeda attacks were ladies so it doesn't make any sense.''
Mr Harrington suspected Mrs Elliott was released because of the ‘‘huge upcry'' in Burkina Faso about the abduction of the couple who had ‘‘fought half their lives to help''.
Mrs Elliott had signalled if her husband was released they would continue to work in Djibo.
The Harringtons' daughter, Christine Johnstone (28), son-in-law Pete Johnstone (29) and grandson James (1) were given an armed escort from a Burkina Faso village Sebba to Ouagadougou after the attacks. Mrs Elliott and Mrs Johnstone had talked since her release.
The Johnstone family left Clinton for Christian missionary work about three years ago.
Since the attack, the family had been relocated to a safer village because of its distance from the border.
The Johnstones would return to the capital in about a week to make a decision about what to do next.
The options would be to work in Ouagadougou, the safer village, return to New Zealand, or seek approval from the Burkina Faso Government to return to Sebba.
The approval could be hard to obtain because the Government was ‘‘anxious'' about Westerners living in places where they would be vulnerable to kidnapping.
Mr Harrington said he expected the Johnstones to continue the missionary work in Burkina Faso and doubted Ouagadougou would appeal because the family loved country life more than city living.
It was too early to tell if Burkina Faso would be the target for more extremist attacks, he said.
