New information 2019 : Sahel hostages: a new enigma.
- Over the last week of February 2019, a successful Barkane operation in northern Mali may have provided the answer to questions put on this page back in July 2017 (see below). Which government or organization has facilitated the release of the two hostages and were handed over to? From which airport did they return home? Finally, who has received the ransom payment if any was paid?
- Barkane is reported to have arrested, at the end of February, a former Malian gendarme and his companion, a few hundred kilometers north of Timbuktu. A credible rumor accredits the idea that both have spoken to their captors. They may have reported important information about the hostages including the purchase of a costly property costly in one of the Sahel capitals. The amount of the ransom is not mentioned. But in Barkane, they for sure, do know.
It is over with 2018. The New Year 2019 inherits the same structural problems: more conflicts and more migrations. Both are the results of armed radicals’ groups terrorist activities and governments’ ambiguous policies. Though indispensable, the external military presence is now in question.