German humanitarian Jörg Lange, 63, has been released after being held hostage for four and a half years in the Sahel, his NGO, Help, announced on Saturday. “We are very relieved and grateful that our colleague Jörg Lange, after more than four and a half years, can return to his family,” Help’s managing director, Bianca Kaltschmitt, wrote in a statement. The NGO “heartily thanks all those who have contributed to this release or who have supported it, in particular the crisis unit of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the criminal police, as well as the authorities and friends in Mali, Niger and in neighboring countries”.
According to the German weekly Der Spiegel, it is thanks to the Moroccan secret services and their contacts with jihadist groups in the Sahel that this release could take place. Jörg Lange would have been repatriated to Germany on board an army plane, adds Der Spiegel. Asked by AFP, the German government declined to comment.
Sold after removal
Jörg Lange was kidnapped on April 11, 2018 in western Niger by armed men on motorcycles near Ayorou, in a border region of Mali plagued by recurrent jihadist attacks. His Nigerian driver was released shortly afterwards. According to the German press, Jörg Lange was sold after his kidnapping to the jihadist group “Islamic State in the Greater Sahara” (EIGS).
4 Western hostages still held
At least four Western hostages are still being held in the Sahel, according to a count covering only the cases made public by their entourage or their government: Frenchman Olivier Dubois, kidnapped on May 5, 2021, American Jeffery Woodke (October 14, 2016), Australian Arthur Kenneth Elliott (January 15, 2016) and Romanian Iulian Ghergut (April 4, 2015).
Another German, Father Hans-Joachim Lohre, who has not been heard from since late November is widely believed to have been abducted, although no claims have been reported.