Two Swiss citizens kidnapped between Mali and Niger

GENEVA – Switzerland confirmed on Friday that two Swiss citizens were kidnapped "in the region between Mali and Niger" along with two other tourists, from Germany and Britain.

"We have been made aware of the case of a kidnapping of a group of tourists including two Swiss people in the region between Niger and Mali", a spokesman for the Swiss Foreign Ministry told AFP.

He was not able to say on which side of the border between Niger and Mali the abduction took place.

A regional governor in Mali said Thursday that the four European tourists were kidnapped on Niger’s territory close to the border with Mali.

The group was returning from a festival of nomad culture at Anderamboukane, on the border between Mali and Niger, when they were seized, the Malian authorities said.

The Anderamboukane festival takes place in January of every odd year and is billed as a transborder celebration of Tuareg culture, music, sports, and crafts.

Germany’s foreign ministry confirmed it received information that a German woman had disappeared in Mali.

The north of Mali was the scene of violent clashes between Tuareg rebel groups and the Malian army in recent years.

[AFP / Expatica]