France will not negotiate with the Islamist rebels who kidnapped a French family in Cameroon , Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said Tuesday . `` We do not negotiate on these bases , with those groups , '' Le Drian said on French radio station RTL . `` We will use all possible means to secure the release of hostages . '' The radio announcement comes a day after rebels in Nigeria released a chilling video of the family that was abducted in neighboring Cameroon . The seven-member family was flanked by armed fighters from the Boko Haram movement in the brief video . One of the captive men read a statement demanding that Nigeria and Cameroon free jailed members of Boko Haram , which is battling to establish Islamic rule in northern Nigeria , and their families . `` Meet all the demands we have mentioned , and if you leave out one of them , we will kill these hostages , '' the masked man says . France blasts 'cruelty ' as Boko Haram displays kidnapped family . The family -- a couple , their four children and an uncle -- were seized in a national park in remote northern Cameroon on February 19 . Authorities in Cameroon said they were quickly spirited across the border into Nigeria . `` This is the first time there are children hostages , '' Le Drian said . `` This is an unacceptable situation . '' French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius denounced the video Monday , saying , `` All of the state services are mobilized to free our countrymen . '' `` For all of us , these images are terribly shocking . They demonstrate cruelty without limits , '' Fabius said in a statement . The kidnapping has raised fears of Westerners being targeted by Islamist militant groups in Africa in the wake of the French military intervention against other Islamist rebels in Mali . The masked man in the video says French President Francois Hollande `` started war against Islam , and we must fight him everywhere . '' The father works for the French company GDF Suez and is based in Yaounde , the capital in southern Cameroon . GDF Suez , which is developing a natural gas liquefaction project in Cameroon , said it was working closely with the French Foreign Ministry .
The minister 's statement comes after rebels show video of kidnapped family . The family of seven was kidnapped in Cameroon . Comment: Boko Haram wants jailed members and their wives released .