Nigerien eco-guard Soumaila Hima, who was abducted in an attack on the Prélegou surveillance post in March 2020, has been released.

He had been held captive for nearly 18 months.

Hima was stationed in Torodi in the Tillabéri region which is in the tri-border area, a flashpoint zone where the frontiers of Niger, Burkina Faso and Mali converge.

He was released on Tuesday, November 9. His captors released him even though they did not receive a ransom and there had been no negotiations with Nigerien authorities.

A security source said a non-state armed leader from Mali had decided to release him.

On Tuesday evening he was taken – with one of his brothers in arms, a Burkinabè soldier – by his captors to a rural market in a village bordering Burkina Faso and placed in a transport vehicle.

The driver had informed the squadron leader of the Niger National Guard and the Nigerien defence and security forces.

When he arrived in Torodi, Hima was immediately taken care of by health services and placed under observation.

Commander Abdoulaye Soumana, the departmental director of Torodi environment, said the eco-guard was in good health mentally, but that he was suffering from malaria and was receiving treatment.