German hostage held in Sahel since 2018 raises hope for Frenchman

A German humanitarian worker held hostage in the Sahel for more than four-and-a-half years has been freed, his organisation said on Saturday. But four other hostages from Western countries are still being held by jihadist groups in the region.

Security analysts have long worried that a jihadist revolt in the Sahel that began in Mali in 2012 is spreading towards coastal states on the Gulf of Guinea AFP/File

Jorg Lange, 63, "can return to his family", said Bianca Kaltschmitt, director general of the NGO Help in a press release, thanking Germany's foreign ministry, criminal police and the authorities in Mali, Niger and other neighbouring countries for contributing to his release.

Lange was kidnapped by armed men riding motorcycles on April 11, 2018 near Ayorou in western Niger, in a region near the Malian border frequently hit by jihadist attacks.

Liberato un operatore umanitario tedesco rapito nel 2018 in #Niger. Jorg Lange, 63 anni, lavorava per la Ong "Help". Altri sono ancora prigionieri https://t.co/YZ85GdGsRK pic.twitter.com/Ce7u4IOUnh

— askanews (@askanews_ita) December 10, 2022

His Nigerien driver was freed shortly afterwards, but according to German media, Lange was sold to the Islamic State in the Greater Sahara group.

German weekly Der Spiegel quoted security sources saying Lange was "in good health, given the circumstances".

According to the magazine the Moroccan secret services' contacts with jihadist groups in the Sahel facilitated Lange's liberation.

Der Spiegel said the humanitarian worker was repatriated on a German army plane.

Four western hostages

German media has reported that the kidnappers sought a seven-figure ransom sum and urged Berlin not to try to drag out negotiations.

The government considered deploying KSK special forces to free Lange, but decided the operation would be too risky, Der Spiegel said.

The German government declined to respond to an AFP request for comment on Lange's release.

At least four Western hostages from France, the United States, Australia and Romania are still detained in the Sahel, according to a tally only covering cases made public by their entourage or governments.

On a visit to Ivory Coast, French Minister for Foreign Affairs, Catherine Colonna, said that France was doing “everything possible" to for the release of free-lance journalist Olivier Dubois, who was kidnapped in Gao, in northern Mali in 2021, by a group affiliated with Al-Qaeda. 

• Family of seized journalist Olivier Dubois calls for top judge to oversee case

A TV grab made on March 13, 2022 from an unauthenticated video of unknown source shows a footage of French journalist Olivier Dubois, held hostage by jihadist organisation JNIM in Mali since April 8, 2021, delivering a message to his relatives and French government. © AFP

The Sahel conflict began in northern Mali in 2012, spread to Burkina Faso and Niger in 2015 and now Gulf of Guinea states are suffering sporadic attacks from Islamist militants.

Across the three Sahel nations, thousands of people have been killed, more than two million displaced and devastating damage has been inflicted on three of the poorest economies in the world.

(With AFP)