In the African state of Niger, there was another kidnapping of a stranger: it is a 67-year-old Swiss who was the victim of the kidnapping last Sunday in the Centraliger city of Agadez, AFP reported on Thursday night, TASR writes. No one has signed up for the kidnapping yet, but the authorities suspect that he was committed by jihadists.
AFP explained that the large areas of this West African state are controlled by armed groups connected to the Islamic State (IS) or the Al-Qaeda network, while the security risk has also increased the recent US Army departure from Niger. According to AFP, Austrian Eva Gretzmacher also kidnapped Austrian in Agadez three months ago.
To the responsibility for the kidnapping of the Swiss – identified as Claudia – no one has signed up but The kidnapping method has signs of previous cases associated with jihadist groups, The President of the International Center for Studies on the Sahel Seidik Abba region.
He stated that the unknown persons first realize the kidnapping, then load the hostage in the car and go away from the city. The kidnapped later handed over to the customer. Several observers of AFP have interpreted their beliefs that the recent kidnapping is the IS.
In addition to the 73-year-old Gretzmacher, who was captured on January 11, Four Moroccan truck drivers are kidnapped on the road between Dori in the northeast Burkina Faso and Terou in the west of Niger. The hypothesis of the IS responsibility is also supported by the fact that the IS calls for the kidnapping of people from the West, added Wassim Nasr, researcher and journalist specializing in jihadist movements.
Since the Al-Qaeda group in support of Islam and Muslims (JIM) has distanced itself from these kidnapping, experts assume that they are behind the IS. In this case, the IS had to change its approach and “now has a logistics system” how to move the hostage regularly, to care for their health, food and supervision, Yvan Guichoua from the Bonns International Center for Study of Conflicts.
According to journalist Ibrahim Manza Diall, director of the Air-Info media group based in Agadeza, This city “is not an area under the influence of the Islamic State”, so he thinks that the kidnappings of Claudia and Gretzmacher “are (rather) a work of subcontractors of terrorist groups.”
Agadez is included in the UNESCO World Heritage List. However, the current security situation has caused tourism to fall to zero and the Western state authorities warn against Niger’s travel due to a very high risk of kidnapping throughout the country.
