An Australian surgeon who was held captive by militants in Africa for more than seven years has spoken publicly about the toll of the ordeal, saying he became so malnourished he got scurvy and was close to death.
Ken Elliott and his wife, Jocelyn, were in their 80s when they were kidnapped by an al-Qaida-linked group in Burkina Faso, a landlocked country in the Sahel region that is experiencing increasing unrest.
Jocelyn Elliott was released three weeks after militants took the missionary couple in early 2016, shortly after they finished an evening meal. They had built and then operated a medical clinic in the northern town of Djibo since 1972.
Ken Elliott remained captive until his release in May this year.
He told a Christian convention in the UK this week that he suffered many physical challenges, including at one stage being so sick he was unable to walk.
“I’d only seen one case of [scurvy] in my medical career and that was me,” Elliott said.
“Eventually my captors found some vitamin C for me which turned the tide right around because I thought I was finished.”
The remarks made during an onstage interview at the Keswick convention, an annual Christian gathering in the English county of Cumbria, appear to be the couple’s first public comments since the release.
The family have previously asked for privacy and time to heal, and have avoided drawing public and media attention.
Elliott was asked at the conference how God sustained him during his seven years of captivity. The soft-spoken surgeon plainly responded: “Very well.”
He said he recited memorised parts of scripture because he was not permitted a Bible in captivity.
“These were a great help, because I was able to meditate on these and pray for myself and for my captors,” he said.
The Elliotts are widely known in the remote sub-Saharan area they worked in near the Mali border, given there are very few medical services. When they were taken, many residents protested for their safe return.
Jocelyn Elliott told the convention how the couple had just finished their evening meal on a January evening in 2016 when they heard a knock on the door. Armed men then burst in.
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They were made to lie in the back of a pickup, and driven away.
“In the three weeks I was held with Ken we moved camp about three times,” she said.
“Conditions were basic but we were not mistreated. However, not fully understanding what was occurring at the time, on that first day we believed we were going to be shot.”
She said, contrary to rumour, her husband was not used by his captors for his medical skills.
The couple, originally from Perth, did not provide any details on the terms of the release.
Elliott endured a longer period of captivity than several others taken captive in the area in recent years who were freed through prisoner exchanges.
The Australian government warns people not to travel to Burkina because of ongoing civil unrest, a high risk of terrorist attacks and kidnapping and banditry.
It is a low-income country, where many rely on subsistence farming as well as cotton production. There are also significant goldmines.
The former French colony borders Mali, which is subject to prolonged violence and includes the presence of Wagner forces, and Niger, where military officers have just seized power.
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