German development worker Jörg Lange, who was kidnapped in Niger on April 11, 2018 and taken across the border to Mali, is free again. A German Air Force plane picked up the 63-year-old from Casablanca (Morocco) on Saturday night.
The German aid organization "Help – Hilfe zur Selbsthilfe“ confirmed Lange's release on Saturday in Berlin. "We are very relieved and grateful that our colleague Jörg Lange can return to his family after more than four and a half years. Our big thanks go to everyone who worked on or supported this release, in particular the crisis management team of the Federal Foreign Office, the Federal Criminal Police Office and other German authorities involved, as well as authorities and friends in Mali, Niger and neighboring countries," says Help Managing Director Bianca Kaltschmitt.
According to the aid organization, the civil engineer was its country director in Niger. Accordingly, he oversaw projects there in the areas of health care as well as water and sanitation. Gunmen on motorcycles kidnapped the man on April 11, 2018, about 25 kilometers south of the town of Inates.
The KSK commando has been searching for Lange in Mali and Niger for weeks without success :
When doubts arose in the crisis team that Jörg Lange was still alive, the federal government finally sent the Special Forces Command (KSK) to Africa. The Bundeswehr elite unit is specially trained to rescue hostages and, according to the Ministry of Defense, should have been on site much earlier. However, Germany's Foreign Minister Heiko Maas had rejected this. The Bundeswehr Special Forces Command (KSK) spent weeks in Mali and Niger looking for Lange. Without success.
According to media reports, Morocco received Lange's release last Thursday. Moroccan mediators took him to the German embassy in Mali's capital Bamako on Friday, and he was then flown to Casablanca.
Comments