Found Alive Burkina Faso (Africa) - Edith Blais, 34 & Luca Tacchetto, 30, Canada & Italy tourists, 15 Dec 2018
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moonriverfarm
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Surely he will not be taken to Italy right now?
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Padova, sequestrato in Mali, Luca Tacchetto riabbraccia il padre
Padua, Luca Tacchetto who was kidnapped in Mali, embraces his father at last
The emotion at the end of a nightmare that lasted 15 months. "The first things we said to each other? We didn't need to say anything to each other, we cried all our tears before seeing each other, Luca told us many things, we hold on to them." Nunzio Tacchetto, the father of Luca, the 31-year-old architect who just returned home after a kidnapping that lasted 15 months in Mali, is tired and finally happy. This morning, after a long silence, in front of his house in Vigonza, he commented on his son's return: "He needs to rest now, he is dazed, he is now beginning to understand everything that is happening because of the Coronavirus, it has been 15 long and painful months."
"I thank everyone" - Nunzio Tacchetto continued - "I thank the Farnesina who supported us from the beginning until the last phone call, the one most awaited for liberation. Now we start a new life, more united than ever before."
The family, however, is not yet reunited: Luca's mother is in Australia with her other son, Tommaso, who had a health problem. "Meanwhile, however, my youngest daughter has returned from France" - Tacchetto concluded - "we are all trying to reunite, Coronavirus permitting."
BBM
Padua, Luca Tacchetto who was kidnapped in Mali, embraces his father at last
The emotion at the end of a nightmare that lasted 15 months. "The first things we said to each other? We didn't need to say anything to each other, we cried all our tears before seeing each other, Luca told us many things, we hold on to them." Nunzio Tacchetto, the father of Luca, the 31-year-old architect who just returned home after a kidnapping that lasted 15 months in Mali, is tired and finally happy. This morning, after a long silence, in front of his house in Vigonza, he commented on his son's return: "He needs to rest now, he is dazed, he is now beginning to understand everything that is happening because of the Coronavirus, it has been 15 long and painful months."
"I thank everyone" - Nunzio Tacchetto continued - "I thank the Farnesina who supported us from the beginning until the last phone call, the one most awaited for liberation. Now we start a new life, more united than ever before."
The family, however, is not yet reunited: Luca's mother is in Australia with her other son, Tommaso, who had a health problem. "Meanwhile, however, my youngest daughter has returned from France" - Tacchetto concluded - "we are all trying to reunite, Coronavirus permitting."
BBM
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Luca Tacchetto è a casa: «Avevano i kalashnikov siamo scappati di notte»
Luca Tacchetto is at home: "They had the Kalashnikovs, we escaped at night."
The guy from Vigonza is free again after 14 months in the hands of kidnappers in Africa. His story to prosecutor Sergio Colaiocco of Rome "We slept in the desert". The hypothesis: sold off by a visa application employee
PADOVA. "There were six of them, armed with Kalshnikovs. They told us they were a jihadist group close to Al Qaeda, but they didn't hurt us." Luca Tacchetto's return to life passes through a lengthy interrogation conducted by the prosecutor Sergio Colaiocco and the investigators of the Ros of the Carabinieri. On his return to Italy, the thirty-one year old architect from Vigonza went through the year and a half of his imprisonment in the heart of Africa, together with his Canadian girlfriend Edith Blais, with lucidity and detail. "We were stopped not far from the "W" National Park, located between Niger, Burkina Faso and Benin. They blocked us on Highway 18, there were six Mujaheddin," Tacchetto said yesterday morning in the Prosecutor's Office in Rome. "We walked for three weeks, alternating stretches by car and motorbike."
At the time of the hijacking Luca and Edith were in the vicinity of the natural park, aboard the Renault Scenic that they were supposed to sell before reaching Togo, where they were expected by the managers of the non-profit organization Zion'Gaia with whom they agreed on the project to build a new village.
However, on 15 December 2018, after a few days spent in Bobo-Dioulasso in Burkina, the two were kidnapped by the commando of marauders armed to the teeth. "Towards January we reached the desert area of Mali, where we remained for the entire time of the kidnapping," continues Tacchetto. "Every two moons we moved but always remaining in the same area."
The group moved more or less every 20 days, just to make any search difficult. A strategy that even the officials of the Italian secret service had intuited. "We slept out in the open, on the sand. For a year and a half we lived like that," said the young architect, who turned 31 away from his family and under the surveillance of the kidnappers. "We ate every day, though little. The way they treated us, I think it was an experienced group, accustomed to handling situations like this. For a while my fiancée and I were split up, when she started to feel sick, they brought us back together."
"A few days ago we were told that something was wrong in Italy, without expressly mentioning the coronavirus epidemic," Luca Tacchetto told the magistrate. There are still many points to clarify. The car disappeared, probably burned down shortly after the kidnapping. Both their mobile phones were turned off and thrown away. Impossible any communication. "Compared to other kidnappings, with the victims forced to live indoors and in cramped spaces, in this case it went a little better," an investigator says in the morning in Padua.
Luca and Edith were kept barefoot to prevent them from leaving, but in the evening between Thursday and Friday both saw a window of opportunity. Or at least this is the version given by UN officials, repeated by agencies around the world after an initial launch on the New York Times website.
Luca Tacchetto tells it like this: "On the evening of March 12, we noticed that the group of our jailers had gone away from us to sleep and we took the opportunity to escape. We made shoes out of rags of some clothes and walked all night. Once we reached a road and continued walking for hours. Until we managed to stop a truck that took us to a military base."
But the fact that there was a negotiation and that Italy and Canada paid a ransom is much more than a simple hypothesis. Perhaps a negotiation channel had been open from the very first moment. After all, partial confirmation came from Canada in October last year, when Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland reiterated with few doubts that the two two young people were alive: "There are things we know but we can't share because we don't want to put Edith in danger." The Rome Public Prosecutor's Office, which is responsible for crimes against Italian citizens abroad, has never denied the kidnapping trail. Nor has the Farnesina. The statements made last spring by the spokesman of the Burkinabe government, Remis Dandjinou, complete the picture: "We are certain that their lives are not in danger." In short, the idea of a ransom paid by the two states is much more than a hypothesis. And even the moment when the liberation comes, and therefore the news, has its own meaning: just when the coronavirus epidemic strikes hard both in Italy and Canada, fuelling fears and anxieties of the population.
From the point of view of the investigation, the Ros team are following a very specific lead. Decisive, according to them, were the days in which the two tourists went back and forth between one office and another to obtain the renewal of the visa to stay in Mali. Renewal that had been flunked, shortly before the kidnapping. Luca and Edith may have been betrayed by some employee of the visa office, or by the manager of a gas station. Besides, you don't see many Westerners around there. Two young people like that, in a car, have certainly not gone unnoticed: the may have been sold to the groups of marauders who dominate the Sahel desert, condemned to live and sleep among rocks and dunes for fifteen long months. —
BBM
My first impression when I read about their escape and how it happened was that their captors had let them walk. Thus saving themselves the hassle of having to hand their captives over.
I also wonder how they knew in which direction they should walk, during night time? And how to evade their captors?
Luca Tacchetto is at home: "They had the Kalashnikovs, we escaped at night."
The guy from Vigonza is free again after 14 months in the hands of kidnappers in Africa. His story to prosecutor Sergio Colaiocco of Rome "We slept in the desert". The hypothesis: sold off by a visa application employee
PADOVA. "There were six of them, armed with Kalshnikovs. They told us they were a jihadist group close to Al Qaeda, but they didn't hurt us." Luca Tacchetto's return to life passes through a lengthy interrogation conducted by the prosecutor Sergio Colaiocco and the investigators of the Ros of the Carabinieri. On his return to Italy, the thirty-one year old architect from Vigonza went through the year and a half of his imprisonment in the heart of Africa, together with his Canadian girlfriend Edith Blais, with lucidity and detail. "We were stopped not far from the "W" National Park, located between Niger, Burkina Faso and Benin. They blocked us on Highway 18, there were six Mujaheddin," Tacchetto said yesterday morning in the Prosecutor's Office in Rome. "We walked for three weeks, alternating stretches by car and motorbike."
At the time of the hijacking Luca and Edith were in the vicinity of the natural park, aboard the Renault Scenic that they were supposed to sell before reaching Togo, where they were expected by the managers of the non-profit organization Zion'Gaia with whom they agreed on the project to build a new village.
However, on 15 December 2018, after a few days spent in Bobo-Dioulasso in Burkina, the two were kidnapped by the commando of marauders armed to the teeth. "Towards January we reached the desert area of Mali, where we remained for the entire time of the kidnapping," continues Tacchetto. "Every two moons we moved but always remaining in the same area."
The group moved more or less every 20 days, just to make any search difficult. A strategy that even the officials of the Italian secret service had intuited. "We slept out in the open, on the sand. For a year and a half we lived like that," said the young architect, who turned 31 away from his family and under the surveillance of the kidnappers. "We ate every day, though little. The way they treated us, I think it was an experienced group, accustomed to handling situations like this. For a while my fiancée and I were split up, when she started to feel sick, they brought us back together."
"A few days ago we were told that something was wrong in Italy, without expressly mentioning the coronavirus epidemic," Luca Tacchetto told the magistrate. There are still many points to clarify. The car disappeared, probably burned down shortly after the kidnapping. Both their mobile phones were turned off and thrown away. Impossible any communication. "Compared to other kidnappings, with the victims forced to live indoors and in cramped spaces, in this case it went a little better," an investigator says in the morning in Padua.
Luca and Edith were kept barefoot to prevent them from leaving, but in the evening between Thursday and Friday both saw a window of opportunity. Or at least this is the version given by UN officials, repeated by agencies around the world after an initial launch on the New York Times website.
Luca Tacchetto tells it like this: "On the evening of March 12, we noticed that the group of our jailers had gone away from us to sleep and we took the opportunity to escape. We made shoes out of rags of some clothes and walked all night. Once we reached a road and continued walking for hours. Until we managed to stop a truck that took us to a military base."
But the fact that there was a negotiation and that Italy and Canada paid a ransom is much more than a simple hypothesis. Perhaps a negotiation channel had been open from the very first moment. After all, partial confirmation came from Canada in October last year, when Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland reiterated with few doubts that the two two young people were alive: "There are things we know but we can't share because we don't want to put Edith in danger." The Rome Public Prosecutor's Office, which is responsible for crimes against Italian citizens abroad, has never denied the kidnapping trail. Nor has the Farnesina. The statements made last spring by the spokesman of the Burkinabe government, Remis Dandjinou, complete the picture: "We are certain that their lives are not in danger." In short, the idea of a ransom paid by the two states is much more than a hypothesis. And even the moment when the liberation comes, and therefore the news, has its own meaning: just when the coronavirus epidemic strikes hard both in Italy and Canada, fuelling fears and anxieties of the population.
From the point of view of the investigation, the Ros team are following a very specific lead. Decisive, according to them, were the days in which the two tourists went back and forth between one office and another to obtain the renewal of the visa to stay in Mali. Renewal that had been flunked, shortly before the kidnapping. Luca and Edith may have been betrayed by some employee of the visa office, or by the manager of a gas station. Besides, you don't see many Westerners around there. Two young people like that, in a car, have certainly not gone unnoticed: the may have been sold to the groups of marauders who dominate the Sahel desert, condemned to live and sleep among rocks and dunes for fifteen long months. —
BBM
My first impression when I read about their escape and how it happened was that their captors had let them walk. Thus saving themselves the hassle of having to hand their captives over.
I also wonder how they knew in which direction they should walk, during night time? And how to evade their captors?
RSBM
I think if anyone had paid a ransom, it would have been for their safe return, not being sent off to try to find their own way through the desert with many risks of not making it. I also don't know why Luca would lie about them escaping. JMO
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Nowhere I suggested that Luca would have lied and I do not think he did. IMHO it is possible that they seized an opportunity that was given to them on purpose. IMHO since they stayed in the same area during a year, they may have gotten to know the place and where the roads were. That is what I think, I have no way of knowing this and I would like to see a confirmation, or a different explanation - would be nice, if ever.
No, it's the Italian papers that imply a ransom. I'll bet my boots Edith will tell her story in great detail at some point in the future
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Quebecer kidnapped in Burkina Faso returns home
Édith Blais, who was kidnapped in Burkina Faso in December 2018 and found safe in Mali on March 13 after escaping her captors, has returned home to Sherbrooke, Que.
In a statement, Blais said she is in good health and feels well, both physically and mentally.
She thanked all the people who supported her and her boyfriend over the last 16 months.
Blais’ family also took the time to thank the Canadian government for investing time with them and other hostage families, as well as acknowledging those who have yet to see their family members come home.
BBM
Édith Blais, who was kidnapped in Burkina Faso in December 2018 and found safe in Mali on March 13 after escaping her captors, has returned home to Sherbrooke, Que.
In a statement, Blais said she is in good health and feels well, both physically and mentally.
She thanked all the people who supported her and her boyfriend over the last 16 months.
Blais’ family also took the time to thank the Canadian government for investing time with them and other hostage families, as well as acknowledging those who have yet to see their family members come home.
BBM
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From the twitterfeed of Giuseppe Conte, PM of Italy
@GiuseppeConteIT
Silvia Romano è stata liberata! Ringrazio le donne e gli uomini dei servizi di intelligence esterna. Silvia, ti aspettiamo in Italia!"
Silvia Romano has been freed! I thank the women and men of the foreign intelligence services. Silvia, we are waiting for you in Italy!
BBM
Happy news!
@GiuseppeConteIT
Silvia Romano è stata liberata! Ringrazio le donne e gli uomini dei servizi di intelligence esterna. Silvia, ti aspettiamo in Italia!"
Silvia Romano has been freed! I thank the women and men of the foreign intelligence services. Silvia, we are waiting for you in Italy!
BBM
Happy news!
Italian aid worker Silvia Romano who was abducted in Kenya has been released
Awesome news!
Ws thread..
Italian Aid worker Silvia Costanza Romano, 23, snatched in Kenyan raid
Silvia Costanza Romano who was abducted in Kilifi in November 2018 Image: COURTESY
''Silvia was 23 years old during the abduction and was the manager of African Milele Onlus, an Italian based humanitarian group.
Italian Premier Giuseppe Conte said on Saturday through his Twitter hundele post hailed men and women of the foreign intelligence for their work which led to her release.''
''The three key suspects were Ibrahim Omar, Abdulla Wario, and Moses Liwali'' .
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LUCA TACCHETTO RACCONTA LA PRIGIONIA/ “Edith iniziava a non vederci bene...”
Luca Tacchetto speaks about captivity: Edith was starting to see badly
A terrible adventure, in some ways incredible, the one experienced by the young architect from Padua, Luca Tacchetto. He was kidnapped in Burkina Faso in December two years ago, and has only been free since last March. The 31-year-old realtes the story himself, through a report for the weekly magazine Oggi. "From that moment on I thought only of escaping - part of Tacchetto's memorial, concerning the hours immediately after the reunion with his companion - I listened to the conversations of our guards, tried to understand the meaning of their conversations in Arabic and got an idea of our position." At a certain point the two of them, taking advantage of a moment of distraction of the guards, managed to escape, but the escape wasn't at all easy as Edith Blais began to show the scars of captivity: "She can't see well - the architect from Padua still remembers those terrible moments - she hadn't had her glasses on for months and was clinging to me, stumbling all over the place, falling, getting up again and starting marching again every time". At a certain point the two stopped at the edge of a road, waiting for someone to arrive, and when all hopes seemed to have vanished, a truck arrived, a "rusty wreck" describes Tacchetto "but it inspired great confidence". Luca got up, jumped in the middle of the road, stopping the truck: finally they were free again.
Luca Tacchetto had been kidnapped in Burkina Faso with his girlfriend Edith Blias. It was December 17, 2018, and their trail was lost until a month ago, March 12, when the two were freed after 15 months of imprisonment. On his return to Italy he was forced to go into quarantine because of the coronavirus emergency, and to pass the time he decided to write a memorial, a sort of adventure diary in which he explained how his imprisonment was, and how he managed to escape together with Edith: "I too became a man of the desert" - it reads in a passage of his diary published in Oggi - "I learned to read the stars and I managed to free myself following the light of Venus." The architect from Padua is currently in forced isolation in his parents' house in Vigonza, in the province of Padua, and through the weekly magazine mentioned above he recounted his incredible journey from Italy, passing through France, Spain, the Strait of Gibraltar, then Morocco, Western Sahara, Mauritania, Mali and finally Burkina Faso.
A mega "tour" that was planned time before in detail to help a friend who was in a village in Togo. This is how Luca remembers his kidnappers, and the terrible fear of the first few hours after being in the hands of the criminals: "I counted six. The turban covered their faces and left only their eyes uncovered. Each one of them was holding a Kalashnikov. Edith and I looked at each other and thought the same thing. They would put a bullet in our heads, make a video and say goodbye. The first night, I just chickened out."
Then came the long captivity in the desert, away from civilization: "They kept me in chains day and night. I went on like this for months, then for good behavior, they only chained me at night. I was giving up." The reunion with Edith (the two had been separated before), was a new lifeblood: "My heart burst with joy. We were exhausted. But in that absolute emptiness, the mere fact of seeing each other alive and being together again released energies that we no longer knew we had. With Edith's arrival, they unchained me even at night. I had the only obligation to hand in water and sandals before going to sleep. But who was asleep? From that moment on, all we thought about was escaping."
BBM
Luca Tacchetto speaks about captivity: Edith was starting to see badly
A terrible adventure, in some ways incredible, the one experienced by the young architect from Padua, Luca Tacchetto. He was kidnapped in Burkina Faso in December two years ago, and has only been free since last March. The 31-year-old realtes the story himself, through a report for the weekly magazine Oggi. "From that moment on I thought only of escaping - part of Tacchetto's memorial, concerning the hours immediately after the reunion with his companion - I listened to the conversations of our guards, tried to understand the meaning of their conversations in Arabic and got an idea of our position." At a certain point the two of them, taking advantage of a moment of distraction of the guards, managed to escape, but the escape wasn't at all easy as Edith Blais began to show the scars of captivity: "She can't see well - the architect from Padua still remembers those terrible moments - she hadn't had her glasses on for months and was clinging to me, stumbling all over the place, falling, getting up again and starting marching again every time". At a certain point the two stopped at the edge of a road, waiting for someone to arrive, and when all hopes seemed to have vanished, a truck arrived, a "rusty wreck" describes Tacchetto "but it inspired great confidence". Luca got up, jumped in the middle of the road, stopping the truck: finally they were free again.
Luca Tacchetto had been kidnapped in Burkina Faso with his girlfriend Edith Blias. It was December 17, 2018, and their trail was lost until a month ago, March 12, when the two were freed after 15 months of imprisonment. On his return to Italy he was forced to go into quarantine because of the coronavirus emergency, and to pass the time he decided to write a memorial, a sort of adventure diary in which he explained how his imprisonment was, and how he managed to escape together with Edith: "I too became a man of the desert" - it reads in a passage of his diary published in Oggi - "I learned to read the stars and I managed to free myself following the light of Venus." The architect from Padua is currently in forced isolation in his parents' house in Vigonza, in the province of Padua, and through the weekly magazine mentioned above he recounted his incredible journey from Italy, passing through France, Spain, the Strait of Gibraltar, then Morocco, Western Sahara, Mauritania, Mali and finally Burkina Faso.
A mega "tour" that was planned time before in detail to help a friend who was in a village in Togo. This is how Luca remembers his kidnappers, and the terrible fear of the first few hours after being in the hands of the criminals: "I counted six. The turban covered their faces and left only their eyes uncovered. Each one of them was holding a Kalashnikov. Edith and I looked at each other and thought the same thing. They would put a bullet in our heads, make a video and say goodbye. The first night, I just chickened out."
Then came the long captivity in the desert, away from civilization: "They kept me in chains day and night. I went on like this for months, then for good behavior, they only chained me at night. I was giving up." The reunion with Edith (the two had been separated before), was a new lifeblood: "My heart burst with joy. We were exhausted. But in that absolute emptiness, the mere fact of seeing each other alive and being together again released energies that we no longer knew we had. With Edith's arrival, they unchained me even at night. I had the only obligation to hand in water and sandals before going to sleep. But who was asleep? From that moment on, all we thought about was escaping."
BBM
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The return of Silvia Romano has created quite a controversy in Italy. Silvia Romano got off the plane in full, green, muslim attire. She declared that she had converted to Islam of her own free will in captivity. She denied rumours widely circulating in the country that she is pregnant and that she had married one of her captors.
It is estimated that the Italian government has paid a ransom between 1 and 4 million euros for her liberation. Terror group Al Shahab would have used this money for medical care and the purchase of weapons. Many Italians see Silvia Romano, who now calls herself Aicha, no longer as a victim (with possibly Stockholm syndrome) but as one of the enemy.
It is also estimated, but never confirmed, that the Italian state has paid up to 80 million euros for the liberation of hostages since 2004.
Gli 80 milioni (mai confermati) forse usati per pagare i riscatti
Silvia Romano was captured in Kenya and from there taken to Somalia by her captors.
Tradita o venduta nel villaggio africano? I carabinieri setacciano la Onlus di Silvia Romano
Silvia Romano traded or sold ? The Carabinieri investigate the non-profit organization Africa Milele
Check on Joseph, the Masai husband of the founder, who was entrusted with the security of the village of Chakama in Kenya
The volunteer to the Muslims of Italy: "Thank you!"
"Our daughter was left on her own": it was this heavy and direct accusation launched by Silvia Romano's parents that brought the Carabinieri del Ros to the offices of the non-profit organization "Africa Milele". This accusation was confirmed by the young woman herself on Sunday afternoon when in her interrogation in front of magistrates and investigators she told that she had remained in Kenya, in the village of Chakama, without any security measures. The search ordered yesterday by the magistrates therefore serves to check the documentation relating to the mission, to ascertain what precautions have been taken to protect the volunteers. Because the real question is all too obvious: could the kidnapping have been avoided? There are no investigations at the moment, but if it were established that the security protocols for this type of mission were not followed, the founder, Lilian Sora, and those responsible for the association risk being accused of aiding the kidnappers. Silvia, too, will have to be heard again by the magistrates, but these days they are trying to let her find peace with her family. Therefore, the summons is expected in the coming weeks.
The first report of "anomalies and criticalities" came from the Farnesina Crisis Unit and its manager Stefano Verrecchia immediately after the kidnapping in November 2018. The diplomat is the spokesman for the state of mind of the family that accuses "Africa Milele" of not having given Silvia "any help in managing a complicated situation such as that of an African village". It turns out that even the minimum rules have been omitted. There is no registration on the website "Travelling informed" and at the embassy there are also doubts about the insurance policies taken out for those who agree to go to Kenya to take care of children and teach them to read and write.
When in early 2019 the Carabinieri of the Ros went to Malindi to reconstruct the stages of Silvia's capture, they discovered that the security of the village had been entrusted to Joseph, a Masai. In reality, he was the husband of Lilian Sora. The woman had arrived in Kenya in 2000 for a holiday with her Italian husband, but she had decided to stay and open an orphanage to take care of the little orphans, but also other children taking care of their education, to give their families food and medicine. And she had married Joseph to whom she had entrusted the organization of the village. About this situation, Silvia has now provided details considered fundamental by the prosecutor Michele Prestipino and the public prosecutor Sergio Colaiocco for their decision to verify all possible omissions. "A few days before my capture - the young woman explained - two men came to look for me in the village. I found out later but the Masai who was supposed to be with us did nothing about this incident."
That's when it becomes fundamental to reconstruct what happened in those days to find out if someone, even unconsciously, could have betrayed Silvia by telling that there was a white girl in the village. Or if instead the volunteer was "sold" as the Kenyan policemen hypothesize from the very first moments. After all, it is well known that Westerners are precious goods for criminal groups and even more so for fundamentalists. And therefore, it must be established whether provisions had been made for emergencies and security measures were takento avoid Silvia falling prey to the kidnappers. The Carabinieri have seized the computers to acquire the e-mails, the protocols, the insurance contracts.
On Friday, the young volunteer published a post of thanks to the Muslims of Italy who expressed their solidarity with her in a video where they take turns welcoming her back. "As-Salamu Alaikum wa rahmatullahi to all of you that Allah bless you for all this affection you are showing me. Thank you God, thank you! It's beautiful this video, it's a great emotion. Hello brothers! See you soon In sha' Allah!"
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Mali frees over 100 jihadists seeking hostage swap
Insurgency-hit Mali has freed over 100 alleged or convicted jihadists to secure the release of a top politician and a French charity worker, sources close to the talks said Monday.
This is a rare mass release of prisoners in the fragile West African country, which is struggling with an eight-year-old Islamist insurgency that has claimed thousands of lives.
Soumaila Cisse, a former opposition leader and three-time presidential candidate, was abducted on March 25 while campaigning in his home region of Niafounke ahead of legislative elections.
Sophie Petronin, a French charity worker, was abducted by gunmen on December 24, 2016, in the northern city of Gao. She is presently the last French national held hostage in the world.
BBM
On it goes.....
Insurgency-hit Mali has freed over 100 alleged or convicted jihadists to secure the release of a top politician and a French charity worker, sources close to the talks said Monday.
This is a rare mass release of prisoners in the fragile West African country, which is struggling with an eight-year-old Islamist insurgency that has claimed thousands of lives.
Soumaila Cisse, a former opposition leader and three-time presidential candidate, was abducted on March 25 while campaigning in his home region of Niafounke ahead of legislative elections.
Sophie Petronin, a French charity worker, was abducted by gunmen on December 24, 2016, in the northern city of Gao. She is presently the last French national held hostage in the world.
BBM
On it goes.....
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Édith Blais racontera son histoire dans un livre
Édith Blais will tell her story in a book
Édith Blais of Sherbrooke, kidnapped in December 2018 in Burkina Faso, will publish a book retracing her extraordinary journey. The book is due to be published in 2021 by Éditions de l'Homme.
According to information obtained by La Tribune, the young woman of almost 36 years old, who regained her freedom in March 2020, is working every day to advance the realization of her story. She is in good health. She is currently in Alberta to recharge her batteries and enjoy nature.
She plans to return to Quebec this fall to continue working on her book. To date, she has only spoken in a press release issued upon her return to Quebec in March. She plans to speak to the people of Quebec in the future, but hopes to find a way to do so properly.
In her statement in March, Édith Blais thanked everyone who had supported her and her Italian friend Luca Tacchetto during their captivity. Arriving at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, she wished everyone to keep hope by taking care of each other. She also wanted her privacy to be respected so that she could make a smooth return.
The two former hostages had been found in Mali after fleeing from their captors. They had been taken to a checkpoint of the United Nations Peacekeeping Force.
Travelling by car from Europe, Edith Blais and Luca Tacchetto were originally scheduled to travel to Togo to work with an organisation that was working to reforest parts of the country. They had disappeared after their visit to Bobo-Dioulasso, the second largest city in Burkina Faso.
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Édith Blais will tell her story in a book
Édith Blais of Sherbrooke, kidnapped in December 2018 in Burkina Faso, will publish a book retracing her extraordinary journey. The book is due to be published in 2021 by Éditions de l'Homme.
According to information obtained by La Tribune, the young woman of almost 36 years old, who regained her freedom in March 2020, is working every day to advance the realization of her story. She is in good health. She is currently in Alberta to recharge her batteries and enjoy nature.
She plans to return to Quebec this fall to continue working on her book. To date, she has only spoken in a press release issued upon her return to Quebec in March. She plans to speak to the people of Quebec in the future, but hopes to find a way to do so properly.
In her statement in March, Édith Blais thanked everyone who had supported her and her Italian friend Luca Tacchetto during their captivity. Arriving at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, she wished everyone to keep hope by taking care of each other. She also wanted her privacy to be respected so that she could make a smooth return.
The two former hostages had been found in Mali after fleeing from their captors. They had been taken to a checkpoint of the United Nations Peacekeeping Force.
Travelling by car from Europe, Edith Blais and Luca Tacchetto were originally scheduled to travel to Togo to work with an organisation that was working to reforest parts of the country. They had disappeared after their visit to Bobo-Dioulasso, the second largest city in Burkina Faso.
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evilwise
Former Member
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People can't even be charitable and work there to try to help locals. It's ludicrous.Mali frees over 100 jihadists seeking hostage swap
Insurgency-hit Mali has freed over 100 alleged or convicted jihadists to secure the release of a top politician and a French charity worker, sources close to the talks said Monday.
This is a rare mass release of prisoners in the fragile West African country, which is struggling with an eight-year-old Islamist insurgency that has claimed thousands of lives.
Soumaila Cisse, a former opposition leader and three-time presidential candidate, was abducted on March 25 while campaigning in his home region of Niafounke ahead of legislative elections.
Sophie Petronin, a French charity worker, was abducted by gunmen on December 24, 2016, in the northern city of Gao. She is presently the last French national held hostage in the world.
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On it goes.....
Regarding Kayla Mueller.. includes video (some upsetting scenes)
Oct 5 2020
'We can't let her down again: we have to find her'
''Kayla Mueller's parents: 'We can't let her down again'
Kayla Mueller's parents: 'We can't let her down again'
American aid worker Kayla Mueller was only 24 years old when the so-called Islamic State (IS) took her hostage in 2013.
She had travelled to the Syria-Turkey border to help refugees.
After 18 months in captivity, IS claimed she had been killed by a Jordanian airstrike, but the US maintains she died at the hands of the terrorist group.
With no definitive proof about what happened to Kayla, her family is still carrying out their own search for answers.
UK viewers can watch In The Face of Terror on Monday 5 October at 21:00 BST on BBC Two and on BBC iPlayer.''
realanastasia
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Thanks for sharing this—Kayla’s story is simply heartbreaking and I hope someday her parents are able to find peace in spite of the horrific circumstances of their daughter’s death.
ZaZara
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I am surprised to see that Kayla Mueller apparently does not have her own thread here om WS (or am I missing something?).
She disappeared in a war zone in Syria on her way to Turkey, which is nowhere near Mali or Burkina Faso. The distance is 4470 kms as the crow flies.
She disappeared in a war zone in Syria on her way to Turkey, which is nowhere near Mali or Burkina Faso. The distance is 4470 kms as the crow flies.
ZaZara
AstraZaZara
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Mali frees over 100 jihadists seeking hostage swap
Insurgency-hit Mali has freed over 100 alleged or convicted jihadists to secure the release of a top politician and a French charity worker, sources close to the talks said Monday.
This is a rare mass release of prisoners in the fragile West African country, which is struggling with an eight-year-old Islamist insurgency that has claimed thousands of lives.
Soumaila Cisse, a former opposition leader and three-time presidential candidate, was abducted on March 25 while campaigning in his home region of Niafounke ahead of legislative elections.
Sophie Petronin, a French charity worker, was abducted by gunmen on December 24, 2016, in the northern city of Gao. She is presently the last French national held hostage in the world.
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On it goes.....
'Mama Sophie', kidnapped Frenchwoman who spent years feeding Malian children
Frenchwoman Sophie Petronin, freed in Mali on Thursday after a long kidnap ordeal, dedicated years of her life to running a charity for malnourished children in the conflict-ridden Sahel state.
"She handed out food supplies. Parents came to ask her advice. She saved hundreds of children," her nephew Lionel Granouillac told AFP
In a 2013 book, Petronin, now 75, wrote that "what I'll do in your sea of misery isn't much, but a saved life is one that's lived. Children are innocent, they have the right to grow up".
After moving to Gao, 1,200 kilometres (750 miles) northeast of capital Bamako, in 2001, her small red car became a familiar sight in the region and people began calling her "mama Sophie".
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"The terrorists couldn't care less about that."
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