Unknown assailants kidnapped a group of European tourists on Thursday, including two Swiss, one German and a Briton, in Niger near the Malian border, a regional governor in Mali said.
“We just finished the latest verification and there are a total of four European tourists kidnapped on Niger’s territory close to the border with Mali: one German national, one British national and two Swiss nationals,” said General Amadou Baba Toure, governor of Gao province.
The group had been returning from a festival of nomad culture at Anderamboukane on the border between Mali and Niger, when they were seized, the Malian authorities said.
A source in the Malian security forces confirmed the kidnapping, adding that it took place at Bani-Bangou, 60km from the border with Mali.
The Anderamboukane festival takes place in January of every odd year and is billed as a transborder celebration of Tuareg culture, music, sports and crafts. It ran from Monday through Thursday this year.
Germany’s foreign ministry confirmed it had received information that a German woman had disappeared in Mali.
“The foreign ministry and the [German] embassy in Bamako are following information that a German woman disappeared today in the middle of the day in Mali,” a ministry spokesman said.
“They are trying to shed light on what happened,” the spokesman said.
In London, Britain’s foreign ministry said it had heard the reports of the kidnapping but could not confirm British nationals were involved.
The north of Mali has been the scene of violent clashes between Tuareg rebel groups and the Malian army in recent years.
Mali’s defense ministry said 31 Tuareg rebels were killed in a military offensive on Thursday.
The Tuaregs are a nomadic desert people who have roamed the southern Sahara for centuries. In recent years they have staged uprisings in both Mali and Niger, claiming autonomy for their traditional homeland.
Experts say there are up to 1.5 million Tuaregs sprawled over nearly 2 million square kilometers of land covering parts of Algeria, Burkina Faso, Libya, Niger and Mali. The majority live in Niger (700,000) and Mali (300,000).
Two Canadian diplomats, one of them the UN envoy to Niger, disappeared in Niger early last month and are presumed kidnapped.
The car of UN envoy Robert Fowler and his assistant Louis Guay were travelling in was discovered on Dec. 15 at the side of the road in an apparently trouble-free area close to the capital Niamey. Its engine was running and the vehicle’s doors were wide open.
Last week Nigerien President Mamadou Tandja said the diplomats were being held by terrorist groups.
“All the investigations undertaken indicate they are being held hostage by terrorist groups,” Tanja said, referring to the Tuareg rebel groups operating in the north of the country.
In a market in the Chadian capital, N’Djamena, customers flock to Ache Moussa’s stall to have their long plaits smeared with a special paste in an age-old ritual. Each strand of hair, from the root to the end, is slathered in a traditional mixture of cherry seeds, cloves and chebe seeds, the most important ingredient of all. Users say the recipe makes their hair grow longer and more lustrous. Local and natural hair products are gaining popularity across Africa as people turn away from commercial cosmetics. Moussa applies the mixture and shapes the client’s locks into a gourone — a traditional hairstyle consisting of
RALLYING CRY: Former US president Donald Trump has raised suspicions about why Chinese migrants are going to the US and advocacy groups worry about his rhetoric The US Department of Homeland Security on Tuesday said that it sent 116 Chinese migrants from the US back home in the first “large charter flight” in five years. The flight, which happened over the weekend, comes as Chinese immigration has become the subject of intense political debate in the upcoming US presidential election. “We will continue to enforce our immigration laws and remove individuals without a legal basis to remain in the United States,” US Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas said in a statement. The department said it was working with China to “reduce and deter irregular migration and to disrupt
‘ONE FELL SWOOP’: Overturning a landmark ruling that said judges should defer to experts would ‘cause a massive shock to the legal system,’ a dissenting opinion said Prosecutors overstepped in charging Jan. 6, 2021, rioters with obstruction for trying to prevent certification of the 2020 presidential election, the US Supreme Court said on Friday, throwing hundreds of cases into doubt, while another controversial ruling struck down 40 years of legal precedent on federal agencies’ ability to regulate critical issues. The matter was brought to the court through an appeal by former police officer Joseph Fischer, a supporter of former US president Donald Trump who entered the Capitol with hundreds of others in 2021. Writing for the majority, Chief Justice John Roberts said prosecutors’ interpretation of the law would “criminalize
The US yesterday wrapped up its first multidomain exercise with Japan and South Korea in the East China Sea, a step forward in Washington’s efforts to enhance and lock in its security partnerships with key Asian allies in the face of growing threats from North Korea and China. The three-day Freedom Edge increased the sophistication of previous exercises with simultaneous air and naval drills geared toward improving joint ballistic-missile defense, anti-submarine warfare, surveillance and other skills and capabilities. The exercise, which is expected to expand in years to come, was also intended to improve the countries’ abilities to share missile warnings —