Two hostages, Olivier Dubois, a French journalist, and Jeffery Woodke, an American aid worker, who were kidnapped by armed groups in the Sahel region of Africa have been freed after years in captivity.
The pair arrived at the airport in Niamey, Niger, on Monday. Niger’s Interior Minister Hamadou Adamou Souley stated that their release came after several months of efforts by Nigerien authorities to free them from the hands of JNIM, a West Africa-based affiliate of al-Qaeda.
The circumstances of the two men’s release were not immediately clear, and a senior US official said there were no direct negotiations with the armed group that held Woodke, and no ransom or quid pro quo was part of his release.
French President Emmanuel Macron thanked Niger for its help in securing Dubois’s release, which Macron said had brought significant relief to the journalist’s loved ones, as well as the entire country.