Armed men on motorbikes kidnapped Jorg Lange, a 63-year-old aid worker and engineer, from the town of Inates in 2018.
A German aid worker has been freed more than four and a half years after being kidnapped in Niger, according to German aid organization Help.
In a statement Saturday, the organization did not provide details on how or where Jorg Lange, a 63-year-old engineer, was released.
Armed men on motorbikes abducted Lange in April 2018 near the Niger town of Inates on the border where rebel groups, some with links to al-Qaeda and ISIL (ISIS), made frequent attacks and kidnappings over the years.
“We are relieved and grateful that our colleague Jorg Lange is able to return to his family after more than four and a half years,” said Bianca Kaltschmitt, executive director of the organization.
Kaltschmit thanked the German Foreign Ministry and other German authorities, as well as “the authorities and friends in Mali, Niger and neighboring countries”.
A trained engineer, Lange worked in the humanitarian field for more than 30 years before being kidnapped.
At least 25 foreigners and countless locals have been kidnapped in the Sahel since 2015, according to the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project.
According to the organization, five foreigners remain in custody, including Pastor Hans-Joachim Lohre, a German priest who was kidnapped in the Malian capital Bamako in November.
Others still in custody include French journalist Olivier Dubois, who was abducted last April from northern Mali, US national Jeffery Woodke, Australian doctor Ken Elliott and Iulian Ghergut, national Romanian national, who was abducted from a mine in Burkina Faso and has been detained since 2015.
