An American national, 48-year-old pilot Kevin Rideout, was abducted overnight between Tuesday, 21 and Wednesday, 22 October in Niamey, Niger’s capital.
Rideout, who works for the international evangelical humanitarian organisation “Serving In Mission (SIM)”, operates humanitarian flights across Niger and the Sahel region.
According to reports, three unidentified men stormed his residence in the Château 1 district, a high-security area near the Bravia Hotel and the Presidential palace, and took him away. The U.S. State Department confirmed that Embassy officials in Niamey are working closely with Nigerien authorities to secure his release.
No group has yet claimed responsibility for the abduction, and Niger’s security forces have been deployed since Wednesday morning to locate the missing pilot. The incident marks the first kidnapping of a foreign national in Niamey since 2011, when two French citizens were abducted and killed by Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb. Kidnappings of foreigners have become increasingly common elsewhere in Niger, particularly in Agadez and Tillabéri regions, where several aid workers and expatriates were seized earlier this year.