Johannesburg — A number of safety sources within the West African nation of Niger advised CBS Information on Wednesday that an American nationwide was kidnapped from his residence within the capital Niamey on Tuesday evening.
They mentioned the kidnapping by unknown assailants befell solely about 100 yards from the presidential palace in Niamey, the place ousted President Mohamed Bazoum has been held since he was toppled by a coup greater than two years in the past.
Sources advised CBS Information the person kidnapped on Tuesday is a missionary who has labored for years for a U.S.-based charity.
CBS Information has requested the U.S. State Division for any data it could actually present in regards to the obvious abduction.
The sources mentioned the American was kidnapped by three unidentified armed males.
Messages circulating amongst safety officers in Niamey instructed the American had been working in Niger since 2010.
AFP by way of Getty 
There was no recognized demand from any kidnappers, nor any official response from the Nigerien authorities nor the U.S. Embassy in Niamey.
The obvious kidnapping comes two years after a July 2023 coup that eliminated Bazoum and introduced Common Abdourahamane Tiani to energy, together with his navy junta vowing to revive safety.
Sources advised CBS Information the again door of the presidential palace is only a few hundred yards from the place the kidnapping befell, within the capital’s extremely secured Plateau district.
Sources advised CBS Information that Basoum has been held within the palace since his ouster, residing in two rooms with no home windows and no exterior contact permitted by the navy junta aside from an occasional physician’s go to. Tiani has stayed in a navy barracks not removed from the residential palace since seizing energy.
AFP by way of Getty 
Safety officers within the area have speculated that the kidnapping might be the work of the ISIS affiliate within the area, the Islamic State within the Larger Sahara, which operates within the space alongside the shared borders of Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso.
From Niamey, it is just a couple of one-hour drive to the Burkina Faso border, and two hours to the Malian border.
bogdanserban/Getty 
A number of Nigerien sources mentioned Wednesday that the kidnapping was carried out by “three armed people” who “neutralized the guard earlier than taking on their sufferer and rapidly leaving the scene.”
They mentioned the kidnapped American’s cellphone was tracked lower than an hour after the kidnapping late Tuesday evening to a location about 56 miles north of Niamey — in an space “thought-about a sanctuary for teams affiliated with the Islamic State within the Larger Sahara” between the Nigerien capital and the Malian border.
All three of the neighboring states have seen navy regimes overthrow civilian rule inside the final half of a decade, together with Gabon and Guinea, incomes the area of West and Central Africa the doubtful moniker of Africa’s “coup belt.”
