Malian official: Politician Cisse, French aid worker freed

A Malian official says Islamic extremists have freed a prominent local politician and a French aid worker

Mali Hostages Freed

Islamic extremists have freed prominent Malian politician Soumaila Cisse after holding him hostage for more than six months, as well as a French aid worker who was kidnapped in 2016, a Malian official said Tuesday.

The 70-year-old Cisse boarded a plane in northern Mali along with Sophie Petronin, the official said on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to journalists. The flight departing from Tessalit was headed next to Gao and then to the capital, Bamako

There was no immediate comment from the French or Malian governments.

Speculation about a prisoner exchange had heightened in recent days after the government freed about 180 Islamic extremists over the weekend and put them on a plane to the north.

Militants seized Petronin from Gao in December 2016. She appeared two years later in a video released on Telegram by the al-Qaida-linked group known as JNIM. There was no immediate word on whether the Colombian nun also shown as a hostage in the video was released.

Cisse, a three-time presidential candidate, was traveling with his entourage in the north in March while campaigning for re-election as a member of parliament. Extremists ambushed his vehicle, killing his bodyguard, witnesses said. Cisse was injured by shattered glass, but little else is known about his conditions in captivity.

The only proof that Cisse was still alive after his abduction was a handwritten letter delivered in August.

His re-emergence is likely to cast further uncertainty on the political scene in Mali. He lost the 2013 and 2018 elections to Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, who was overthrown as president by the military junta in August after weeks of demonstrations organized by an opposition coalition.

While a transitional civilian government has been chosen, new elections are being organized with a 2022 deadline, providing a new avenue for Cisse.

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Associated Press writer Krista Larson in Dakar, Senegal contributed.