The Spanish Government is investigating the kidnapping of a Spanish citizen who was allegedly captured in southern Algeria by the Islamic State of the Great Sahara (EIGS) and transferred to neighboring Mali. The information comes from local sources considered reliable and consistent by Spanish experts in the area, although the news is confusing and there is no official confirmation. Initially it was stated that the kidnapped person was a tourist, but sources familiar with the investigation later indicated that he was a man over 50 years old and of Spanish nationality, although his identity has not been provided.
The kidnapping occurred this Wednesday in southern Algeria. The kidnappers would have released the people who accompanied the Spaniard who took him to neighboring Mali as the only hostage. If confirmed, it would be the second kidnapping of a Western citizen in the region in recent days. The Austrian Federal Ministry of European and International Affairs announced last Sunday that an Austrian woman, Eva Gretzmatcher, had been kidnapped in the Agadez region (Niger), close to the Algerian border.
Various jihadist groups operate in Algeria, such as the JNIM (Islam and Muslim Support Group), linked to Al Qaeda, and the EIGS (Islamic State of the Greater Sahara), a local ISIS franchise. While the former seems to have abandoned the kidnapping of Westerners, the latter, who is credited with the capture of the Spaniard, has adopted it as a strategy and is especially active in the regions of Tahoua and Agadez, in neighboring Niger. Last October, a Swiss citizen was murdered on the terrace of a cafe in a tourist area in southern Algeria.
The Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs recommends that extreme precautions be taken when traveling through Algeria, traveling in groups and informing the Spanish Embassy and the consulates general in Oran and Algiers, as well as the Algerian Gendarmerie, of the travel program. Although the Foreign Affairs website reports precedents of kidnapping of Western citizens, the travel recommendations classify the border area with Mali as “medium risk.”
In October 2011, two Spanish aid workers were captured by armed men in the Sahrawi camps of Tindouf (Algeria) and transferred to Mali, where they were released nine months later, in July 2012. The action was claimed by the Movement for Unity. and the Jihad in West Africa (Mujao), a jihadist group very active at the time.
Two years earlier, in October 2009, three members of the Catalan NGO Barcelona Acció Solidaria were captured 170 kilometers from Nouakchott (Mauritania): The first was released in March 2010, while the last two remained kidnapped by Al Qaeda for almost nine years. months, until August 2010.
