A conservationist with dual French and Australian citizenship has been kidnapped in north-eastern Chad and a search and rescue mission is underway, the Chad government says.
It was not known who carried out the abduction in Chad's north-eastern Wadi Fira province on Friday.
Chad's government spokesman, Aziz Mahamat Saleh, said the kidnapped man is an environmentalist who manages an oryx park on behalf of the Sahara Conservation Fund (SCF).
"The government has mobilised all security and human means in order to get hold of the kidnappers and find [the man]," Mr Saleh said in a statement.
"This abduction occurred yesterday, in the afternoon of October 28, 2022," the government in N'Djamena said in a statement without giving further details.
A spokesperson from the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade said the Australian government was in contact with Chad and French authorities.
"Due to our privacy obligations we are unable to provide further details," the spokesperson told the ABC.
France's foreign ministry said it was aware of the kidnapping of one of its citizens and was in contact with their family and Chadian authorities "in order to secure their rapid release".
SCF declined to comment under advice from the French foreign ministry.
The fund was set up in 2004 to help save the endangered scimitar-horned oryx.
Chad has been run by a military junta led by Mahamat Idriss Deby since his father was killed in an operation against rebels in April 2021.
A semi-desert state located in the heart of central western Africa, Chad has been chronically unstable since it gained independence from France in 1960.
The country's eastern region, close to Darfur in western Sudan, has been plagued by organised crime and trafficking of all types.
There is often deadly violence in the region, particularly between local communities, on both sides of the border.
At least 50 people were killed and nearly 300 injured in protests in Chad last week as hundreds took to the streets to demand a quicker transition to democratic rule.
ABC/Reuters
