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The priest Pier Luigi Maccalli, kidnapped in Niger in 2018, and Nicola Chiacchio were released in Mali. Father Maccalli, from the Diocese of Crema, was kidnapped on September 17, 2018 in Niger, in a mission about 150 km from the capital Niamey. In April, Avvenire had published a video in which the Lombard priest was imprisoned along with Chiacchio, from whom they had disappeared, perhaps kidnapped during a vacation.
The identity of the two released Italians was confirmed by a Malian government spokesman. The announcement comes after Mali’s interim government released 100 jihadists, suspected or convicted, over the past weekend.
Good news: Father Pier Luigi Maccalli and Nicola Chiacchio are finally free and well. They had been kidnapped by a jihadist group. Thanks to our intelligence, especially to Aise, and everyone who worked to bring them home.
– Luigi Di Maio (@luigidimaio) October 8, 2020
“Our compatriots Father Pier Luigi Maccalli and Nicola Chiacchio have been released,” confirms Farnesina in a statement. “The release was possible thanks to the valuable work of the Aise staff and all the competent state apparatuses, together with the important collaboration of the Malian authorities. The success of the operation, in addition to highlighting the professionalism, skills, Operational and intelligence reports They also highlighted the excellent investigative work of the Italian judicial authority and the valuable work carried out by the women and men of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the entire Farnesina Crisis Unit. ”“ Once again, the fruitful, unanimous and synergistic interaction It has been successful among State institutions, allowing us to achieve the primary objective of bringing our two compatriots back to their homeland ”, concludes the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The French hostages Sophie Pétronin and Soumalia Cissé, a high-ranking Malian person in the hands of suspected jihadists, were freed along with the Italians Father Maccalli and Nicola Chiacchio. Mali’s presidency announced on Twitter. No details were provided on the circumstances of the release. Sophie Petronin, 75, was the last French citizen in the hands of the kidnappers: she was abducted on December 24, 2016 by an armed group in Gao, northern Mali, where she ran a childcare organization. Soumalia Cissé was abducted on March 25 while campaigning for legislative elections in the Timbuktu region in the northwest of the country. All the hostages were probably held by Islamic groups linked to Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (Aqmi).
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