An American kidnapped this week in Massalata, Niger, near the border with Nigeria, was released on the night of Friday October 30 to Saturday October 31, 2020, Nigerian Defense Minister Issoufou Katambé told Agence France- Hurry. “I confirm that the American hostage was released yesterday,” said the minister without giving details of the circumstances of this release or the place where Philip Walton was currently. The latter had been captured during the night of Monday to Tuesday by armed men who were looking for money, according to the testimony of his father Bruce Walton, who has been living in Niger for nearly 30 years.
His kidnappers, left for Nigeria, then contacted the father to ask for “a ransom”, according to Ibrahim Abba Lélé, prefect of Birni Nkonni (of which Massalata is a neighbor), without specifying the amount requested. A spokesperson for the US State Department confirmed on Tuesday that an “American citizen had been kidnapped in Niger.”
The Sahel, a high-risk area for Westerners
The Sahel is regularly the scene of kidnappings of Westerners by jihadist groups. On October 8 in Mali, the French Sophie Pétronin and two Italian hostages, one of whom had been kidnapped in Niger, were released, but several remain detained in the Sahel. Among them, the American humanitarian Jeffery Woodke kidnapped in Niger in October 2016 in Abalak, about 200 km north of Birni Nkonni. However, the area in which Philip Walton was kidnapped is far from the usual reach of jihadist groups. It is an area of active smuggling and banditry, due to the porosity of the border between Niger and Nigeria.
In August, six French aid workers and two Nigeriens were murdered 60 km west of Niamey in the Kouré nature reserve, an attack claimed by the Islamic State (IS) group. Niger is plagued by recurrent jihadist attacks that have left hundreds of people dead.
The Americans have two drone bases in Agadez and Dirkou, in northern Niger. Their aircraft constantly fly over the Sahel and provide significant support to the French anti-jihadist Barkhane force. In October 2017, four US Special Forces soldiers and five Nigerien soldiers were killed in an ambush in Tongo Tongo, near Mali, in southwestern Niger. This attack was claimed by the Islamic State in the Greater Sahara (EIGS) when officially the United States did not have troops in operation on the ground.
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