French Journalist Released by Leftist Rebels in Colombia

Colombian rebels on Wednesday freed a French journalist kidnapped 33 days ago, releasing him in a remote jungle village in a move the French president hailed as a "happy end."

"Apart from the fact that I was held for a month, everything went very well. I cannot complain," France 24 correspondent Romeo Langlois told reporters after arriving in the hamlet of San Isidro with a group of rebels.

He was later flown to the Colombian capital Bogota, and was expected to return to France as early as Thursday to be reunited with his family.

Langlois, 35, had been captured at the end of April by rebels from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) during an attack on a Colombian army unit he was embedded with in order to film a counter-drug operation.

"They treated me like a guest," Langlois, dressed in gray shirt and black pants, said of his captors. "They were always very respectful."

The rebels handed over Langlois to a team from the International Committee of the Red Cross that also included French envoy Jean-Baptiste Chauvin and longtime peace activist Piedad Cordoba.

News of the release was met with widespread relief in France, where President Francois Hollande expressed his "great joy" and thanked Colombian authorities, the French ambassador to Bogota and the ICRC for "the happy end."

Langlois said he would likely return to France on Thursday. "Seems I will travel tomorrow (Thursday). I will see if I can negotiate another day (in Bogota) but I think that will be difficult."

Langlois's parents, watching for signs of their son's release in Paris, were overjoyed at the news of his freedom.

"We are very, very happy," his mother Aline told France 24. His father, Michel, said the couple were worried their son had been killed or that his health was failing.

"We were optimistic because Romeo is a professional, he knows the FARC, he knows Colombia very well," he added.

Despite his ordeal, Langlois, who has been reporting from Colombia for a decade, vowed to keep a close eye on the decades-long strife between the FARC and the military.

"I stay convinced that one has to keep following the conflict," he said.

Eager to welcome Langlois, locals in San Isidro, a village of 300 people that has no running water or electricity, had slaughtered several cows for a celebratory barbecue.

During the lengthy celebration after his release, the rebels publicly apologized for holding Langlois as "prisoner of war."

"I accept the apologies but I don't agree with the decision to keep me for 33 days," Langlois countered.

Villagers had also put up banners, one of which read: "We need the state to be there -- not with its weapons and bombs, but with its investments."