Four men kidnapped near the Burkina Faso-Niger border in January have been released “safe and sound,” Mali’s government announced Monday.
The former hostages appeared on national television alongside Mali’s junta leader, President Assimi Goita, in a rare display of relief and triumph. According to a government statement read on air, the men had been held by militants affiliated with the Islamic State and were freed on Sunday.
They were abducted in northeastern Burkina Faso while transporting equipment for Niger’s state electricity company, NIGELEC, without any security escort. Niger’s government later recovered their vehicles, but the men remained missing for months, caught in a region plagued by armed violence.
Groups linked to both the Islamic State and Al-Qaeda have entrenched themselves across the Sahel, exploiting weak borders and fragile governance. Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger—each ruled by military juntas following coups since 2020—have struggled to contain the decade-long insurgency.
Malian authorities credited cooperation with Moroccan officials for the successful operation that led to the men’s release. Their return offers a brief moment of victory in a region battered by insecurity and political isolation.
