The article you cited mentions the use of a drone by the U.S.

Knowing that the U.S has a military base in Niger for surveillance and they use drones massively, I believe that the path Tunisia -> Libya -> Niger -> Mali is the correct one, but anything can be possible

I read that he never ever ever used the phone.
That's how he survived so long.

But the quote in the link from Geoff Porter explained a lot.

Six French [tourists] aid workers among 8 shot near Niamey
 

https://www.france24.com/en/20200809...-governor-says

Happened at a giraffe reserve near Kouré, 60km SE of Niamey and possibly along an axis designated as requiring only 'added vigilance', (yellow) according to the French govt MAE map below.

Some say ISGS were behind it.

Was there in 2014. Amazing and very sad the number of places in WA I have been over the last 12 years that are now impossible to visit.
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/fZ...-no?authuser=0

The world has become an increasingly unstable place in the past 20 years, unfortunately.

Do you happen to have more photos from that trip that you can share somewhere?

Any more news on this?

Abdel Hakim al-Sahrawi was reportedly killed in Tamalat (east of Menaka, Mali)

https://www.africa-express.info/2020...il-presidente/

https://www.difesaesicurezza.com/dif...-stato-ucciso/

Tunisia: 'terrorist' attack in Sousse
 

Assamakka, NIger
 

Unusual deadly attack and vehicle robbery (for this part of Niger) on a Trans-Sahara Highway road-building camp between Arlit and Assamakka.


https://levenementniger.com/frontier...s-une-attaque/

Robbers then. Some may see the idea of a paved road as an impediment to their business interests.
It would be interesting to see how far the Chinese have come with their road-building in Niger. In November 2019 they said the whole project was 80% ready.
What impact will it have on security and travel?
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped...ghway_2019.png

Possible release of Sophie Petronin (French national kidnapped in Gao in 2016):
https://twitter.com/SimNasr/status/1313387392225681408

She was an aid worker in Gao, where she ran an operation for malnourished children.
https://www.france24.com/en/20170702...ges-mali-video
She may then be part of a larger deal where the main exchange is 180 jihadists released for the Malian former presidential candidate Soumaila Cisse, kidnapped in March this year
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/...-prisoner-swap
It would be delightful if they also released the elderly Australian doctor Elliott, who was running a clinic in Djibo for decades.
And the Romanian worker, the Colombian nun, the Swiss missionary.

Good news
 

As predicted, Sophie Pétronin, Pierluigi Maccalli and Nicola Chiacchio have been released, along with Soumaila Cissé, head of Malian opposition.

The Europeans are in for a bit more of a shock than normal.

https://www.france24.com/en/20201008...ali-since-2016

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world...794_story.html

So according to my list, that leaves

• Romanian citizen Julian Ghergut #23A
  
• Swiss national Beatrice Stockly #27
  
• Australian doctor Ken Elliott #28
• American missionary/NGO worker, Jeffrey Woodke #30
  
• Colombian nun Gloria Cecilia Narváez Argoti #32
• German aid worker, Jörg Lange #33

Sadly it seems that Beatrice Stöckli had been mudered about 1 month ago.
This had been reported by the Swiss forreigny ministry: https://twitter.com/ignaziocassis/st...44210549743617

Swiss boulevard press report (in German): https://www.blick.ch/news/ausland/vo...d16137375.html

And there is reason to worry why the Australian surgeon Ken Elliott wasn't released. He was kidnapped with his wife in Djibo near the Mali border January 2016.
She was soon released but he was not. He is now 86 years old, if he is alive.
The couple was running a clinic with 120 beds since the 1970's, the only health provider in the region.
Sad beyond comprehension.

Another leader, Ba Ag Moussa taken out by the French.
If it has any consequences remains to see.
https://www.thedefensepost.com/2020/...g-moussa-mali/

An interesting read about the escape of the Italian and Quebecois couple: https://www.journaldemontreal.com/20...ecoise-au-mali

Attachment 25106

Well done. Amazing truck driver who risked his life for saving theirs rather than enriching himself. They were lucky.

Interesting article here about British American Tobacco and the trade in cigarettes through the Sahara with the militant groups:

https://www.occrp.org/en/loosetobacc...in-west-africa

Attachment 25133

I knew about tobacco firms facilitating smuggling into the EU for example but this is another league.

An example of the mentality of the BAT suits from the article:
An internal strategy memo from 2015 refenced BAT's plan, called “Desert Storm”.

“As we know, in a dark market, the war is won on the battlefield with no pity for our competitors,” said the memo.

A 2007 presentation speaking of “fighting ITG [Imperial Tobacco Group] to the death” and a “PMI [Philip Morris International] attack.”
It would be laughable if it weren't so lethal.

Interesting website too. Thanks.

Here are the numbers to call!

Attachment 25162

227 is Niger
website: www.rfj.tips www.rfj.tips/tui
twitter: https://twitter.com/RFJ_Francais

French journalist kidnapped near Gao
 

Olivier Dubois begs for help on video from Mali.

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/4...66d1535bf074b8

Two seasoned Spanish documentary film makers and an Irish Zambia-born ranger working with anti-poaching were killed in Eastern Burkina when they were ambushed by jihadists April 26.
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/27/w...kina-faso.html

ISWAP Confirms Shekau’s Death, Says Its Fighters Were Following ISIS Orders

https://humangle.ng/iswap-confirms-s...g-isis-orders/

Another lethal ambush at or near Assamakka so that route won't be opening soon.

https://airinfoagadez.com/2021/06/10...une-embuscade/

Some good news from Mali: Colombian nun Gloria Narváez Argoti kidnapped in Fev 2017, released today in Bamako.

https://twitter.com/PresidenceMali/s...12821816610824

5 years after the kidnapping of Jeff Woodke, the population still demands his release:

https://airinfoagadez.com/2021/10/17...sa-liberation/

Edith Blais podcast on BBC Sounds in 2 parts.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/w3ct1jtz
She's the one who pulled off an amazing escape with her Italian friend east of Kidal.


Released On: 15 Nov 2021Available for over a year
While travelling through West Africa in 2018, Canadian Edith Blais and her companion Luca Tacchetto were kidnapped by al-Qaeda. They were taken to the desert in a lawless area of Mali where they were, initially, held together for some months. But then they were separated, and Edith found herself alone for long periods of time. As well as suffering physically with dehydration and starvation, she had to find different techniques to keep her mind strong and stay sane. A borrowed pen enabled her to write poetry, she sang songs to remind herself of her own voice, and a very special relationship with a spider helped ease her loneliness. She has written a book about her time in captivity called The Weight of Sand.

Part two will be available in the next edition of Outlook, or click on the link below to listen to the whole interview as a podcast.

Fascinating 12 minute video article in Le Monde of various militant groups in action in the Sahel:

https://www.lemonde.fr/afrique/video...r%5D-%5Bios%5D

Attachment 25525

Kidnappings in the Sahel 2022
 

Not that I believe ransom should be paid to the Sahel Criminal, because it encourages further kidnappings but FYI, Ripcord Insurance will only pay $10,000 if it happens to you.

Sent from my SM-G998B using Tapatalk

Jörg Lange, kidnapped 2018
 

Recent kidnappings (of foreigners)
 

'In Mali, Nopparat Rattanawaraha, who runs a popular YouTube channel where he posts travel clips, returned to Thailand after being released on payment of a reported $150,000 ransom [after three weeks]. He was seized while driving from Burkina Faso into Mali with a driver and guide...'

https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand...i-kidnap-drama

'In Chad,*a Franco-Australian Jérôme Hugonnot working for the Sahara Conservation Fund (SCF) was kidnapped [near the Sudan border] for two days... He arrived in the early evening aboard an army plane [at] Adji Kosseï military base, notably housing the headquarters of Barkhane, the French anti-jihadist force in the Sahel.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/20...napped-in-chad

First time, as far as I can remember, that I hear about kidnapping in Chad, any impressions of who is behind it? The Sudanese border seems a long way from the troubled Sahel region west of Lake Chad.

Kidnappings are not unheard of in Chad (2006 Bilma Erg; 2007 Tibesti) but it was more Yemeni style robbery/hostage/ran$om, and certainly not jihadists.

There was even a film about one in the 80s, Le Captif du Desert.

This just popped up in the Moroccan media.

https://fr.le360.ma/politique/sahel-...rocains-271921

Jorge Lange released in Mali

Most of Chad's border regions are rather sketchy from a security perspective. The Lake Chad area got a bunch of headlines semi-recently, but all of their borders have been porous and unstable for a long time. For example, in the northwest, the Tibesti region has had security problems for many years, and the gold mining has only made it worse. Keep in mind that's where the (now dead, former) president was fighting rebels. Also, Faya area (in the north) has a thriving smuggling industry from Libya. Its fairly normal to see lots of relatively new, expensive Toyotas driving around with Libyan tags.

Great news for Jorge Lange.

Afaik, Other known western captives include:

• Romanian mining engineer Julian Ghergut, Burkina 2015
• Italian family, Mali 2022
• German missionary Hans-Joachim Lohre, Bamako 2022

Updated summer 2023 but still about as short as the list has been for 20 years.

Yeh but they have no problem finding replacements
https://www.aciafrica.org/tag/fr-hans-joachim-lohre
abducted from his home in eastern Bamako Nov 22
https://news.un.org/en/story/2023/01/1132802
Abducted near Menaka Jan 25

Makes for an interesting reading.

Iyad Ag Ghaly meets the signatory groups of the peace agreement near Kidal. According to these sources, Iyad Ag Ghaly first asked the armed groups that signed the 2015 peace agreement to concentrate their efforts against the rival jihadist group, the Sahelian branch of the Islamic State group

https://www.rfi.fr/fr/afrique/202301...3%A8s-de-kidal

Also this:

https://www.rfi.fr/fr/afrique/202301...de-m%C3%A9naka

Jeffery Woodke and Olivier Dubois freed
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-65017545

Dr Kenneth Elliott, the 88 year old Australian taken in 2016 near the Mali - Burkina Faso border, has been freed.

Wow. That is amazing, the best piece of news from the region for a long time.

Kidnapped in Djibo in 2016. Seven years! At his age.

Interview with Jeffrey Woodke
 

Romanian citizen Iulian Ghergut, who was kidnapped in Burkina Faso in 2015 by a jihadist group, returned home yesterday according to Morocco World News.

Good news. With Iulian Ghergut's release that means all western hostages of many years captivity have been freed and the list is as short as it's ever been.

The only current captives are from 2022: a missionary grabbed in Bamako last November, and an Italian family of Jehovahs from southeastern Mali.
Hopefully it won't be 8 years for them.

https://sahara-overland.com/kidnappings/

Thank you for keeping that Website updated!

Surfy

Gerco van Deventer released
 

Gerco van Deventer, who was taken hostage in Libya in 2017 and who is believed to have been held in Mali, has just been released after 6 years in captivity. The initial price of freedom was quoted at $3 million but that was negotiated down to $500 000. Release in Mali and then Mauri proved difficult. Reports are that Algeria emerged as the country from which he was released.

Good news, though actually it is claimed he was released 'unconditionally' which would be a first for AQIM/JNIM.

I'm also told the German priest Hans-Joachim Lohre who was kidnapped in Bamako last year was released last month:
https://www.foxnews.com/world/german...d-captors-mali

Which means for the first time since it all started in 2003 there are currently no known captives who were kidnapped for ransom in the Sahara.

and locally...
 

Anyone know.....


With respect to all of the insecurity how has that impacted cross border traffic? Are trucks still running between say Algeria and Niger? Has public transport ( as much as it is) still continued to run?


This is prompted by sheer curiosity and looking at pics of a friend on board a truck years back going from Agadez to Tamanrasset.



Mike

The Italian Jehovah’s family kidnapped in southern Mali in May 2022 has been released.

https://apnews.com/article/italy-mal...497a2c4a3673e9

(thanks to LS for passing on)

This was not a Sahara kidnapping, but my list of 40 such events since Algeria in 2003, is empty.

Hi Mike, I imagine cross border freight continues via In Guezzam.
Sadly, these days much of that 'freight' are migrants being sent back to Niger.
No tourist has crossed this route since Arab Spring. Into Tessalit (Mali) even longer.
Long berms along the border either side of IGZ.

ugh!
 

Thanks. Pretty much as I imagined....