An Italian couple and their son, who were captivated by Jihadists in Mali in May 2022, have finally been released, the Italian government said.
Rocco Langone, his wife Maria Caivano, and their son Giovanni landed at Ciampino Airport, in Italy, marking the end of a painful ordeal.
“I do not wish to anyone to go through what I went through,’’ Daniele Langone told reporters. “I am so grateful for all that has been done for me and for my family.”
Rome says an Al-Qaeda affiliated group, known as the Group for the Support of Islam and Muslims, kidnapped the family from their home in a community for Jehovah’s Witnesses on the outskirts of Koutiala, a city southeast of the capital Bamako.
Italian authorities said the family had lived in Mali for years as part of a “well-integrated community of Jehovah’s Witnesses.”
Last August, Romania’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Luminita Odobescu thanked Morocco for helping release one of its nationals who worked at a mine in Burkina Faso where he was kidnapped by Jidhadists.
The risk of kidnapping has thwarted humanitarian workers and western private companies from investing in southern Algeria and the wider Sahel.
Porous borders and the mushrooming of extremist groups worsened the risks of kidnappings in the Sahel.
Earlier this month, western powers warned of risk of kidnappings in southern Algeria including the area of Tindouf where the Polisario militias are based.