A Colombian nun abducted in Mali was released after more than four years

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Gloria Cecilia Narváez (archive picture from 2017): Was kidnapped more than four years ago

Photo: - / AFP

After several years in the hands of Islamists, a nun has been released in Mali.

The Mali Presidential Office on Saturday praised "the courage and bravery of sister" Gloria Cecilia Narváez and declared that this release was "the culmination of four years and eight months of joint efforts by several secret services."

On a recording shown on state television, the 59-year-old from Colombia said: "I am very happy, I stayed healthy for five years, thank God".

Narváez was abducted on February 7, 2017 near Koutiala, 400 kilometers east of Bamako.

She had previously worked there as a missionary in a parish for six years with three other nuns.

According to one of her co-sisters, Narváez had volunteered to the perpetrators when they were about to kidnap two younger nuns.

"I'm the superior, take me away," she said accordingly.

The kidnappers are said to belong to the group JNIM, which is related to the Al-Qaeda terrorist network.

Narváez was temporarily held with other hostages from Europe.

This included the French Sophie Pétronin, released in 2020 after almost four years of imprisonment.

The brother of the former hostage, Edgar Narváez, told the AFP news agency that he was touched when he received confirmation of his release: "Thank God she is fine, you sent me photos and she looks good."

According to the Colombian government, several European and African diplomats were involved in the negotiations that led to her release.

AFP learned from negotiating circles that the nun was said not to have been mistreated during her detention and that she had studied the Koran.

"The negotiations dragged on for months, even years," it said.

According to an official at Bamako airport, the nun arrived in the Malian capital on Saturday evening and should fly on to Rome.

Extremely unstable situation

Kidnappings are not uncommon in Mali.

The country in the Sahel has been in turmoil for years.

In 2012, Islamist groups had taken control of the north of the country and had advanced further.

The former colonial power France intervened militarily in 2013 and temporarily pushed the extremists back.

The Bundeswehr is also deployed in Mali as part of the UN stabilization mission Minusma and the EU training mission EUTM.

But despite the presence of thousands of international soldiers, the situation is extremely unstable.

The French journalist Olivier Dubois, who was kidnapped in northern Mali on April 8, continues to be under the control of Islamists.

In a video he said that JNIM is also responsible for this.

bbr / AFP