Austrian and Swiss women freed after 18 months in Niger reach Benghazi

An Austrian woman and a Swiss woman arrived in the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi after being freed from more than 18 months of captivity in Niger, two Libyan officials speaking on condition of anonymity said on Wednesday (Reuters).

The Austrian woman, in her 70s, was kidnapped in the desert town of Agadez in central Niger in January 2025 and held for one year and nine months; she had lived in Niger for years. The Swiss woman, 69, was taken hostage in April 2025 — about a year and a half of captivity. Little information has been released about which group held them or what demands may have been made (Reuters).

Libya’s Al-Masar television announced their release overnight between Wednesday and Thursday, saying the two were freed “thanks to the intervention of the Deputy Commander-in-Chief” — Saddam Haftar, deputy commander-in-chief of Libya’s armed forces. In a video broadcast by Al-Masar, the two women appeared tired beneath a portrait of Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar and thanked him and his son in French for their release (AP via swissinfo.ch).

Libyan officials said the women would be handed over to authorities in their respective countries after the necessary procedures were completed (Reuters).

The case highlights Niger’s deepening kidnapping crisis: like its neighbours Mali and Burkina Faso, the country is battling a jihadist insurgency linked to al Qaeda and Islamic State that spun out of a Tuareg rebellion in northern Mali in 2012, and kidnappings have intensified over the past year (Reuters).