The abducted Malian politician Soumaila Cissé released after the government released 100 prisoners

Prominent Malian politician Soumaila Cissé, who was kidnapped by unidentified gunmen in March, was released on Wednesday after Mali released over 100 alleged or convicted jihadists as part of negotiations to secure his release.

Mali also released the prisoners in hopes of getting the release of abducted French aid worker Sophie Pétronin, who was kidnapped by the shooter in December 2016 in the northern city of Gao.

“As part of the negotiations for the release of Soumaila Cisséand Sophie Pétronin, more than a hundred jihadist prisoners were released this weekend,” one of the negotiators, who asked not to be named, told AFP.

A security official confirmed the information, according to AFP. The detainees were released in the central region of Niono and in Tessalit in the north after arriving by plane, the official said.

A Tessalit lawmaker, who also requested anonymity, confirmed to AFP that “a large number of jihadist prisoners” arrived there on Sunday.

Pétronin, which was last seen in a video from June 2018, has not yet been released.

Former opposition leader

Cissé is a former opposition leader, finance minister and three-time presidential candidate in Mali. He was seized on March 25 this year during the campaign in his home region of Niafounké just days ahead of lengthy legislative elections.

The following morning, URD spokesman Demba Traore told reporters that Cissé was traveling with a group of 12 people in two jeeps when the unidentified shooter took them.

The circumstances of his disappearance remain unclear.

Five people were released Thursday morning, Traore said, adding that two from the liberated group were injured. One later died.

“During the kidnapping, there were shots,” he said, explaining that Cissé’s bodyguard had been hit.

Al Qaeda-linked jihadists were active in the area where Cissé and his team disappeared.

“All arrangements have been made to find the missing people and return them to their families,” Mali’s government said in a statement referring to the disappearance as a kidnapping.

Olivier Salgado, spokesman for the UN peacekeeping mission in Mali, said the UN had deployed a helicopter to search for the missing politician and his staff.

European Union Ambassador to Mali Bart Ouvry tweeted that Cissé’s disappearance was worrying.

Rejects the president’s runoff vote

In August 2018, Cissé rejected the announcement that the now ousted President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita had won a presidential election vote, saying he would file a fraud complaint with Mali’s constitutional court.

Cisséheld held a press conference to declare that, according to the results of his party, he had won the run-off with 51.75 percent of the vote to Keitas 48.25 percent.

“I reject the results announced by the Ministry of Territorial Administration, which do not reflect the voice of the Malians,” Cissé said.

The ministry had said Keitawon another five-year term in which he took over more than 67 percent of the vote for Cissé’s 32 percent.

EU servers said there were irregularities during the vote, but did not say there was fraud.

Following the ministry’s statement, Keita received congratulations from French President Emmanuel Macron, whose military has been involved in Mali in the fight against extremism.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres also called on the incumbent to congratulate him. The UN has over 10,000 peacekeepers in Mali.

Eight-year-old rebellion

In 2012, Mali fell north under the control of jihadist groups linked to al Qaeda, which exploited an ethnic Tuareg-led insurgency, although the Islamists were largely thrown out of a French-led military operation in January 2013.

Since then, jihadists have continued to carry out numerous attacks on civilians and the army, as well as on French and UN forces stationed there.

Supported by France and UN peacekeepers, Mali is still battling the year-long Islamist uprising that has claimed thousands of lives.

A military junta overthrew former President Keitain August before taking over the leadership of the West African nation.

(FRANCE 24 with AFP and AP)

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