(Abidjan) The Group for the Support of Islam and Muslims (GSIM), affiliated with Al-Qaeda jihadists, claims to be holding two “Russian hostages”, in a video published Friday in which the two men say they were kidnapped in southwestern Niger.
Seated, both dressed in beige, with graying hair and beards, the two men speak for a short minute in English.
“My name is Yurit, I was born in Russia and I live in Ukraine. I was working for a Russian company as a geologist in Mbanga, when GSIM arrested me,” the first one said.
Next to him, the second claims to be called Greg and to have arrived in Niger “a month ago” to work “for a Russian company” in Mbanga.
The video, presented as a “message from two Russian captives,” is undated and the two men do not specify when they were abducted.
On July 25, Russia advised its nationals not to travel to Mali and Niger due to the security situation.
The Mbanga area is located in the Tillabéri region where several gold sites are located.
Close to the borders of Burkina Faso and Mali, it is regularly the target of jihadist groups such as GSIM or the Islamic State.
Key partner
In June 2021, two Chinese nationals were kidnapped by armed men in Mbanga, before being released nine months later.
In February 2024, three Italian nationals kidnapped in Mali by GSIM in May 2022 were released.
Since this release, the jihadist group has officially stopped holding Western hostages in the Sahel.
Niger, which has been struggling with deadly jihadist violence for several years, is governed by a military regime, like its neighbors Burkina and Mali.
When they took power a year ago, the military justified their coup by the deterioration of the security situation.
But the attacks continue: according to the Acled organization, which lists the victims of conflicts around the world, some 1,500 civilians and soldiers have died in jihadist attacks over the past year, compared to 650 between July 2022 and 2023.
For their part, the military authorities of Niger claim to regularly kill dozens of “terrorists” in operations.
Russia has become a key partner of the Sahelian juntas, all three of which have made the defense of their sovereignty one of their priorities.
In particular, it sent instructors and military equipment to Niamey in April and May.
At the same time, the regime has turned its back on its former partners.
France, a former colonial power, was asked at the end of 2023 to send its soldiers based in Niger to fight against the jihadists. And by mid-September, the Americans will also have packed their bags, leaving in particular their drone base in Agadez (north) after that of Niamey.
Russia on Friday reaffirmed its support for neighboring Mali, after heavy losses inflicted on the army and the Wagner group by separatists and jihadists in the north of the country in late July.
This defeat is the heaviest suffered in a battle by the Wagner group in Africa, analysts agree.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov reaffirmed that his country “stands firmly alongside Mali and the countries of the ESA confederation,” the Alliance of Sahel States, formed by the military regimes of Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger, in a telephone conversation with his Malian counterpart Abdoulaye Diop.