LIBREVILLE, Gabon: Three Cameroonian aid workers with a French Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) who were kidnapped in the country’s jihadist-hit north were freed in Nigeria on Friday after 100 days in captivity, their organisation said.
Olivier Routeau, head of operations at Premiere Urgence Internationale (PUI), said the two men and a woman “were freed this evening near Maiduguri” in northeastern Nigeria, around 100 kilometres (62 miles) from the Cameroonian border.
“It is a little early to say they are in good health, but they are safe and sound, shaken, but we are reassured about their physical integrity,” he added.
“They were smiling on the photos we were sent.”
Routeau could not provide details on the terms of their release or the group holding them, but said the Nigerian military had taken them back.
The three were abducted on January 10 in the village of Yeme in Cameroon’s Far North region, where they were working to fight food security and malnutrition, PUI said at the time.
The northern part of Cameroon and northeastern Nigeria has been the scene of violence by the jihadist group Boko Haram and its rival Islamic State, West Africa Province.
Rebels frequently kill and kidnap civilians for ransom. Other criminal groups also take civilians hostage and usually hand them over in exchange for money.
PUI has been based in Cameroon since 2008 and works to meet the health, food and education needs of people affected by armed attacks.
In March 2022, five employees of Doctors Without Borders (MSF) were kidnapped in the far north of Cameroon and were released in Nigeria.
