French conservationist Jerome Hugonnot was kidnapped in Africa

A French national who works in nature conservation was kidnapped in north-eastern Chad by unidentified kidnappers, the governments of both countries said on Saturday.

Jerome Hugonnot was working for the Sahara Conservation Fund in Wadi Fara province, which borders Sudan, at the time of his kidnapping on Friday, Chadian government spokesman Aziz Mahamat Saleh said in a statement.

The Chadian government mobilized all its resources to find Hugonnot, Saleh said, adding that the kidnappers were “unidentified persons”. Several armed groups operate along the Chad-Sudan border.

“We are aware of the kidnapping of one of our compatriots in Chad and are in contact with his family and the Chadian authorities to secure his release quickly,” France’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

French media reported that Hugonnot also holds Australian citizenship.

The Sahara Conservation Fund and its partners have been working for years in Chad to reintroduce a species of desert antelope known as the scimitar-horned oryx.