American aid worker Jeff Woodke has been released SIX YEARS after being held hostage by terrorists in Niger
An American aid worker who was kidnapped and held hostage by an Al Qaeda terror group in Niger more than six years ago has finally been released.
Jake Sullivan, President Joe Biden’s national security adviser, confirmed that Jeff Woodke was released on Monday.
A veteran aid worker, Woodke was kidnapped in Abalak in October 2016 and was the first US citizen to be kidnapped in the Sahel region.
JNIM, the umbrella organization that underlies al Qaeda, last claimed responsibility for a suicide attack on the Malian headquarters of the G5 Sahel, an international counter-terror task force, in 2018 that killed two soldiers and a civilian.
In a statement, Sullivan said: “I am delighted and relieved that American hostage Jeff Woodke has been released after more than six years in captivity. The US thanks Niger for helping to bring him home to all who miss and love him.
Woodke, a longtime aid worker, was kidnapped in Abalak in October 2016 and was the first US citizen to be kidnapped in the Sahel region
Jake Sullivan, President Joe Biden’s national security adviser, confirmed that Jeff Woodke was released on Monday
“I thank so many in our government who have worked tirelessly to secure his freedom.
“We are working closely with partners in the region and beyond to ensure safe transportation and direct access to the best medical and psychiatric support we can provide.
“Where exactly Jeff goes is a bit up to him.”
Secretary of State Antony Blinken visited Niger earlier this month, with a senior official confirming that Woodke’s release had been discussed during the trip.
The official confirmed that the US has not paid ransoms to terrorists and thanked the Niger government for being involved in efforts to secure his release.
They said, “There was no direct negotiation here between the US government and the terrorist organizations, it’s worth making that clear.
“Certainly, we didn’t pay a ransom here for a concession to a terrorist organization.
“Of the many we’ve tried over the years, we emerged as our best effort to see what a very good and capable and happily willing partner in Niger was able to deliver in their own engagement.”
In a statement released Monday through a family spokesperson, Els Woodke said she had not yet had a chance to speak to her husband, but had been told he was in good condition.
The official confirmed that the US has not paid ransoms to terrorists and thanked the Niger government for being involved in efforts to secure his release.
Woodke was kidnapped from his home by the terror network JNIM, which operates in Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso.
He was released outside Niger in the Mali-Burkina Faso area, according to a senior Biden government official.
He dedicated 25 years of his life to a ministry he founded in Niger, according to the Redwood Coast School of Missions, after moving from California.
At a press conference in Washington in 2021, his wife, Els Woodke, said her husband’s captors had demanded a multimillion-dollar ransom for his release.
She said at the time that she believed her husband was in custody of a West African affiliate of al-Qaeda known as JNIM and pleaded with the group’s leader to release him.
Woodke dedicated 25 years of his life to a ministry he founded in Niger before his kidnapping in 2016
At a press conference in Washington in 2021, his wife, Els Woodke, said her husband’s captors had demanded a multimillion-dollar ransom for his release.
In a statement released Monday through a family spokesperson, Els Woodke said she had not yet had a chance to speak to her husband, but had been told he was in good health.
They added: “She praises God for answering the prayers of Christians everywhere who have prayed for this outcome.”
Woodke was kidnapped by gunmen in the middle of the night, with his guardian and a National Guard soldier shot and killed in the incident.
His abduction marked the first time a US citizen had been kidnapped in the vast Sahel region, where al-Qaeda and criminal gangs have long targeted French nationals and other Europeans for kidnapping and demanded millions of dollars for their release.
The kidnapping took place in the town of Abalak, northeast of the capital Niamey, in Niger’s Tahoua region.
Despite a peace agreement and an international military intervention in 2013, large parts of Mali are still not controlled by domestic or foreign forces and remain subject to attacks by jihadists.
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