A US aid worker abducted in the West African state of Niger more than six years ago has been released, the Biden administration said today.

Jeffrey Woodke was kidnapped from his home in Abalak, Niger, in October 2016 by men who ambushed him and killed his guards, forcing him at gunpoint into his truck and driving him north to the border with Mali. Woodke has been providing humanitarian assistance in Niger for over 30 years.

A senior Biden administration official who spoke to reporters on Monday on condition of anonymity called the release the culmination of years of effort but declined to say what exactly led to his release from captivity or where he is now.

The official said that no ransom had been paid and no concessions had been made to the kidnappers.

“I am delighted and delighted to see the release of American hostage Jeff Woodk after more than six years of captivity,” Jake Sullivan, national security adviser to the Biden administration, tweeted. “The United States is grateful to Niger for helping to return him to all who seek and love him. I thank the many in our government who have worked tirelessly to secure his freedom.”

Wudtke’s wife, Elsa Wudtke, said at a 2021 press conference in Washington that her husband’s kidnappers demanded a multi-million dollar ransom for his release. She said at the time that she believed her husband was in the hands of an al-Qaeda-influenced West African group known as JNIM, and at a press conference pleaded with the group’s leader to release him.

In a statement released on Monday through a family spokesperson, Els Woodk said she had not yet had a chance to speak with her husband but was told he was doing well.

“Praise God for answering the prayers of Christians around the world who have been praying for this outcome,” Woodke said.

A Biden administration official did not name a specific group believed to be responsible for Woodk’s capture, but said there were several overlapping and intersecting hostage-taking networks in that part of West Africa. Although Woodke was captured in Niger, officials believe he also moved to Mali and Burkina Faso.

The US official acknowledged to the Niger government that it facilitated Woodke’s release and said the American was released outside of Niger, around Mali and Burkina Faso.

Liberation of a French prisoner

At the same time, Emmanuel Macron today thanked Niger for the country’s help in releasing French journalist Olivier Dubois, who has been held hostage in Mali for almost two years, the French president said in a statement.

Dubois arrived in Niger’s capital Niamey this morning with Jeff Woodk.

The French president said Macron also reaffirmed France’s commitment to fighting “terrorism in the Sahel”.

Source: Associated Press, Reuters.