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 17 September 2018 in Niger, on a mission about 150 km from the capital Niamey.
The two compatriots are returning to Italy.
"Father Pierluigi Maccalli and Nicola Chiacchio, kidnapped in Africa between 2018 and 2019, are free and are returning to Italy! Thanks to our intelligence department, in particular Aise, and to the Farnesina for this result".
Prime Minister
Giuseppe Conte
writes on Twitter
.
"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, in particular Aise, and to all those who worked to bring them home".
Foreign Minister
Luigi Di Maio
writes on Twitter
after the liberation of the two compatriots in Mali.
In April Avvenire had published a video in which the Lombard priest who was imprisoned together with Chiacchio, of whom all traces had been lost, appeared, perhaps kidnapped during a vacation.
The identity of the two freed Italians was confirmed by a spokesman for the Malian government.
The announcement comes after Mali's interim government released 100 jihadists - suspected or convicted - over the past weekend.
"Our compatriots Father Pier Luigi Maccalli and Nicola Chiacchio have been freed", confirms the Farnesina in a statement.
"The release was made possible thanks to the precious 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, also highlighted the excellent investigative work of the Italian judicial authority and the precious work done by the women and men of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the entire Crisis Unit of the Farnesina ".
"Once again, the fruitful, unanimous and synergistic interaction between the institutions of the state has proved successful, allowing us to achieve the primary objective of bringing our two compatriots back to their homeland", concludes the Foreign Ministry.
Hurray!
Father Maccalli is free !!!!!
Published by Aid to the Church in Need on Thursday, October 8, 2020
"It was time for a great Italian to be returned to his family, to his faithful, to his brothers. The news was in the air. For a couple of days, optimism had been filtering through for his fate and those of others kidnapped in that area of the We are very happy and we thank those, not many for the truth, who in these two years have ensured that the tragedy of Father Gigi did not fall into definitive oblivion ".
This was stated by the director of the pontifical foundation Aid to the Church who has always kept attention on the case of the kidnapped Italian missionary.
Also this morning, relaunching the news of a possible release in Mali of the kidnapped Colombian nun Gloria Narvaez, ACS had hoped for the release of Father Maccalli.
The French hostage Sophie Pétronin and Soumalia Cissé, high Malian personalities in the hands of alleged jihadists, were released together with the Italians Father Maccalli and Nicola Chiacchio.
The Malian 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 kidnappers: she was kidnapped on December 24, 2016 by an armed group in Gao, in northern Mali, where she headed a children's aid organization.
Soumalia Cissé was kidnapped on March 25 while campaigning for the legislative elections in the Timbuktu region in the north-west of the country.
All the hostages were likely held by Islamic groups linked to Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (Aqmi).
