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WASHINGTON — An American help employee kidnapped by militants greater than six years in the past in West Africa has been freed, his spouse and U.S. officers mentioned on Monday, however the circumstances of his launch weren’t instantly clear.
The help employee, Jeffery Woodke, was kidnapped in Niger in October 2016 after which was believed to have been taken to neighboring Mali.
His spouse, Els Woodke, of McKinleyville, Calif., mentioned the U.S. authorities had notified her that her husband had been freed. She was informed that he was in Niamey, the capital of Niger, and later spoke with him for an hour.
“He’s secure,” she mentioned in a telephone interview. After she spoke with him, Ms. Woodke mentioned, he was in “nice spirits.”
A U.S. official mentioned that Mr. Woodke, 62, was in Niamey and that he was being medically evaluated. One other senior administration official briefing reporters confirmed Mr. Woodke’s launch and mentioned the US had not paid a ransom or made different concessions. The official spoke on the situation of anonymity as a part of normal guidelines for safety briefings.
Jake Sullivan, the president’s nationwide safety adviser, thanked Niger in a Twitter message “for its assist in bringing him residence.”
A French safety official confirmed that one other hostage had additionally been launched: Olivier Dubois, a French journalist who went lacking in Mali in April 2021 and was later seen in a hostage video issued by a Qaeda affiliate there.
Mr. Woodke’s launch ends an arduous ordeal by which U.S. officers believed at occasions {that a} harmful army operation would have been required to free him. There isn’t any indication that the US mounted such a rescue or was concerned within the launch of the 2 males.
However Mr. Woodke’s kidnapping performed a job in a deadly ambush of American troops in West Africa.
In October 2017, U.S. troopers raced to a location within the scrubland of Niger after intelligence officers intercepted a sign from the cellphone of a terrorist often called Doundoun Cheffou, a senior lieutenant of a former affiliate of Al Qaeda that had pledged allegiance to the Islamic State.
Mr. Cheffou was being tracked by American intelligence companies due to his seniority within the terrorist group and since he was suspected of getting performed a job in Mr. Woodke’s kidnapping.
What we think about earlier than utilizing nameless sources. Do the sources know the data? What’s their motivation for telling us? Have they proved dependable previously? Can we corroborate the data? Even with these questions glad, The Occasions makes use of nameless sources as a final resort. The reporter and no less than one editor know the id of the supply.
The nighttime raid failed to seek out Mr. Cheffou, however hours later 4 of the Individuals had been killed in an ambush close to the village of Tongo Tongo.
The senior administration official who briefed reporters mentioned that whereas Mr. Woodke was captured in Niger, he appeared to have been taken throughout its borders. The official mentioned that Mr. Woodke was launched outdoors Niger, in an space to the west that features Mali and Burkina Faso.
The official didn’t specify what group had taken Mr. Woodke, calling it a hostage-taking “community.”
The official added that one other prisoner captured in Niger, whom the official didn’t title, was launched by the identical community about six months in the past
Efforts to launch Mr. Woodke had been underway for a very long time, the official mentioned, and Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken, who stopped in Niger throughout a go to to Africa final week, had “confirmed” the discharge whereas there.
The official mentioned that France — which is Niger’s former colonial ruler and maintains ties with its authorities — had additionally performed an necessary position in securing Mr. Woodke’s launch.
Mr. Dubois informed reporters in Niger that “it’s enormous for me to be right here, to be free,” and thanked the governments of France and Niger.
Mr. Dubois, 48, was the one recognized French citizen to be held hostage in Africa. He was kidnapped on April 8, 2021, within the metropolis of Gao, almost 600 miles northeast of Mali’s capital, Bamako, the place he was based mostly, as he was scheduled to interview a jihadist chief. Weeks later, he confirmed his kidnapping in a 21-second clip circulated on social media.
For almost two years, Mr. Dubois’ household, French journalists and human rights defenders campaigned for his launch and commonly broadcast messages on Radio France Worldwide, a state-owned station with a big following in French-speaking African nations. Mr. Dubois mentioned he was in a position to take heed to the messages even after the Malian army junta suspended the radio station amid a fallout with the French authorities.
Rukmini Callimachi and Michael Crowley contributed reporting.
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