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 advised that he was in Niamey, the capital of Niger, and later spoke with him for an hour.
“He’s protected,” 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 america had not paid a ransom or made different concessions. The official spoke on the situation of anonymity as a part of commonplace guidelines for safety briefings.
President Biden thanked Niger and “devoted public servants throughout the U.S. authorities” for securing Mr. Woodke’s launch. “We stay dedicated to maintain religion with Individuals held hostage and wrongfully detained all around the globe, and there’s no larger precedence for this administration than our work to convey them residence,” he mentioned in a press release.
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 wherein U.S. officers believed at instances {that a} harmful navy operation would have been required to free him. There isn’t any indication that america mounted such a rescue or was concerned within the launch of the 2 males.
However Mr. Woodke’s kidnapping performed a task 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 referred to as 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 businesses due to his seniority within the terrorist group and since he was suspected of getting performed a task in Mr. Woodke’s kidnapping.
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The nighttime raid failed to seek out Mr. Cheffou, however hours later 4 of the Individuals have 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 exterior 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 identify, 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 function in securing Mr. Woodke’s launch.
Mr. Dubois advised reporters in Niger that “it’s large for me to be right here, to be free,” and thanked the governments of France and Niger.
Mr. Dubois, 48, was the one identified French citizen to be held hostage in Africa. He was kidnapped on April 8, 2021, within the metropolis of Gao, practically 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 practically two years, Mr. Dubois’ household, French journalists and human rights defenders campaigned for his launch and often broadcast messages on Radio France Worldwide, a state-owned station with a major following in French-speaking African nations. Mr. Dubois mentioned he was in a position to take heed to the messages even after the Malian navy junta suspended the radio station amid a fallout with the French authorities.
Rukmini Callimachi, Michael Crowley and Elian Peltier contributed reporting.
