US aid worker, French journalist abducted nearly 2 years ago freed in West Africa
FILE - US Secretary of State Antony Blinken speaks during a joint press conference with Nigerien Foreign Minister Hassoumi Massoudou (not seen) at the presidential palace in Niamey, Niger, on March 16, 2023. (BOUREIMA HAMA/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)
NIAMEY, Niger - An American aid worker held by Islamic extremists in West Africa for more than six years and a French journalist abducted almost two years ago were both freed Monday, authorities said.
They were brought together to Niger’s capital. U.S. officials said no ransom had been paid for aid worker Jeffery Woodke, praising Niger’s government for helping his release. The French government did not comment on how journalist Olivier Dubois' freedom was won.
Last week, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken made a visit to Niger where he announced $150 million in direct assistance to the Sahel region.
"I’m very pleased we are now seeing that come to fruition today," Blinken said, thanking his team, and Niger, for their efforts. "We won’t rest until they’re all home, like Jeffery reunited with their families."
Officials in Niger unexpectedly announced Monday morning that the two men had taken a special flight to the country's capital but provided no details. U.S. officials said that the American hostage was not freed in Niger but in the surrounding region that includes Mali, where Dubois was abducted in 2021.
Both appeared to be physically well when they met briefly with a small group of journalists in Niamey. Dubois smiled broadly as he was greeted by well-wishers, and told Radio France Internationale that he was tired but fine.
"It’s amazing for me to be here, to be free," the 48-year-old journalist said.
FILE - People hold placards with a portrait of French journalist Olivier Dubois in Paris on June 8, 2021, during a gathering in his support after he was kidnapped in Northern Mali in April by a jihadist group with links to Al-Qaeda. (LUCAS BARIOULET/AFP via Getty Images)
Woodke, who was tanned and had his long grey hair in a ponytail, did not speak.
The two men were the highest-profile foreigners known to be held in the region, and their release was the largest since a French woman and two Italian men were all freed together in Mali back in October 2020.
The press organization Reporters Without Borders, which had long pushed for Dubois’ release, said that "we feel joy and immense relief," and thanked French authorities.
Els Woodke, released a statement through a family spokesman saying she had not yet spoken with her husband but had been told he was in good condition.
"She praises God for answering the prayers of Christians everywhere who have prayed for this outcome," the statement read.
Woodke had been kidnapped from his home in Abalak, Niger, in October 2016 by men who ambushed and killed his guards and forced him at gunpoint into their truck, where he was driven north toward Mali’s border.
At a 2021 news conference in Washington, Els Woodke said she believed that her husband was being held by an al-Qaida-linked militant group known as JNIM and said her husband’s captors had made a multi-million-dollar ransom demand for his release.
Dubois also was being held by JNIM militants, though it was unclear how much time the two foreign hostages had spent in captivity together, said Laith Alkhouri, CEO of Intelonyx Intelligence Advisory.
"While it remains unclear what circumstances led to the release of the hostages, it might not be a coincidence that their freedom came as Blinken wrapped up his visit to Niger and earmarked millions of dollars in aid, some of which could have oiled the Niger government to use its intelligence apparatus in negotiating their release," Alkhouri said.
Groups have long abducted hostages for ransom in the Sahel, the vast, semi-arid expanse below the Sahara Desert. Previously released captives have described being moved frequently from site to site in harrowing conditions amid sweltering temperatures. The extremists aim to use millions in ransom to fund their jihadi operations, though not all countries engage in payment negotiations.
The Biden administration official did not identify the specific group believed responsible for keeping Woodke in captivity, saying a number of overlapping networks in operated in that part of West Africa.
At least 25 foreigners and untold numbers of locals have been kidnapped in the Sahel since 2015, according to the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project. In 2020, Swiss authorities said Christian missionary Beatrice Stoeckli was killed by her militant captors.
Militants with links to al-Qaida and the Islamic State group are believed to still be holding a number of captives, including a German priest. The Rev. Hans-Joachim Lohre was preparing to celebrate Mass in Mali’s capital when he was abducted last November.
Last year an Italian couple and their child were abducted with a household employee in southern Mali.
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Tucker reported from Washington and Larson reported from Dakar, Senegal. Associated Press writers Sam Mednick in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso; Ellen Knickmeyer in Washington; Angela Charlton in Paris and Baba Ahmed in Bamako, Mali contributed.