Mali: Kidnapped Aid Worker Freed

A French aid worker who was kidnapped from an eastern town in Mali has reportedly been released.

Sophie Petronin was 71-years-old when she was kidnapped in December 2016 in the city of Gao, where she ran a charity for malnourished and orphaned children.

The kidnapping was orchestrated by a jihadist group calling themselves Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM) – an affiliate of terrorist organisation, al-Qaeda.

According to reports, Petronin – now 75-years-old – was released by JNIM in exchange for suspected, imprisoned Islamist insurgents with the country’s new transition government.

Although it is not clear when exactly she was released, the aid worker – alongside former presidential candidate Soumaila Cisse, aged 70, who had been held captive since March this year – was flown by the group to the capital, Bamako.

Her son, Sebastian Chadaud-Petronin, said ahead of his mother’s arrival: “I’m not under any illusions but … whatever state she is in, I know she is still lucid. I am overjoyed to get her back.”

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