Colombian nun launched in Mali after 4 years in captivity | Information
Abductions by al-Qaeda and ISIL-affiliated teams have been frequent as Mali struggles to include violence.
A Colombian nun who was kidnapped in 2017 by fighters in Mali has been freed.
Gloria Cecilia Narvaez was launched on Saturday after greater than 4 years of captivity. She was kidnapped by the Macina Liberation Entrance, an al-Qaeda-linked group, in February 2017 close to the border with Burkina Faso.
“The presidency of Mali salutes the braveness and bravado of the nun. This liberation is the crowning achievement of 4 years and eight months of mixed efforts by a number of intelligence providers,” the presidency mentioned in a press release.
Photographs posted on the presidency’s Twitter feed confirmed Narvaez, smiling and wearing a yellow gown and headband, assembly with Mali’s interim President Assimi Goita.
Libération ce jour 09 Octobre de la sœur religieuse Colombienne Gloria NARVAEZ. Elle avait été enlevée le 7 février 2017 à Karangasso, dans le cercle de Koutiala à la frontière entre le Mali et le Burkina Faso.
La Présidence du Mali salue le braveness et la bravoure de la sœur. pic.twitter.com/xIDiIhzjMR— Presidence Mali (@PresidenceMali) October 9, 2021
Kidnapping has been a profitable supply of money for armed teams in West Africa’s Sahel area, the place they’re waging an increasing insurgency towards nationwide armies, French forces and UN peacekeepers.
The presidency didn’t say whether or not any ransom was paid for Narvaez.
Mali has been struggling since 2012 to include violence linked to al-Qaeda and ISIL-affiliated teams. The fighters have now expanded their operations from their strongholds within the nation’s desert north to its centre in addition to neighbouring Burkina Faso and Niger.
In April, a French journalist was kidnapped in northern Mali. In a hostage video, Olivier Dubois mentioned the Group to Help Islam and Muslims (GSIM), the most important alliance of armed teams within the Sahel, had kidnapped him.
Gunmen abducted three Chinese nationals and two Mauritanians from a building website in southwestern Mali in July.
