Trump confirms release of US missionary kidnapped in Niger

Kevin Rideout, a US missionary who was kidnapped in Niger last year, has been released, President Donald Trump confirms.

The news of the release of Rideout had first been relayed by the Christian group he worked for, SIM International, which said he had been kidnapped from outside his home in the Nigerien capital Niamey last October.

“I am proud to announce that Kevin Rideout, a wonderful Christian Missionary, is back in United States Custody,” Trump says in a post on his Truth Social network.

“Kevin was kidnapped by Jihadi terrorists in West Africa,” Trump says, without offering more details.

An American missionary who was kidnapped in Niger in October has been released, his organization said Friday.

Kevin Rideout “is in good health in the care of U.S. officials,” SIM International said in a statement.

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SIM International says Rideout is “in good health in the care of US officials,” adding that he will soon be reunited with family.

The Trump administration had made Rideout’s release a priority in its latest strategy on African Sahel states, after years of fighting extremism found limited success.

Niger, governed by a military junta for three years, has been plagued by jihadist violence and saw a spate of kidnappings of Westerners last year.

Wamaps, a collective of journalists in West Africa, said last year that Rideout was “abducted just a few streets away from the presidential palace right in the city center in a zone which hosts international organizations.”

At one point, he was believed to be held in neighboring Mali by the Sahel branch of the Islamic State group.