Two hostages were found alive on Friday (March 13th) by peacekeepers near Kidal in northeast Mali, a UN mission spokesman said on Saturday. They are the Canadian Edith Blais and the Italian Luca Tacchetto, kidnapped in 2018 in Burkina Faso by armed horrors.

"The UN peacekeepers found Friday afternoon in the vicinity of Kidal an Italian national and a Canadian national taken hostage in 2018 on Burkina Faso territory," a security official within the Minusma.

"Both are doing well. They are under our protection. They will be transferred to Bamako on Saturday before each returning to their country," the security official told Minusma. No information was initially provided on the circumstances under which they were found.

Edith Blais, from Sherbrooke, 160 kilometers east of Montreal, and her companion, Lucas Tacchetto, from Venice (northern Italy), disappeared in mid-December 2018 while crossing this country of West Africa plagued by a surge of jihadist attacks. Both are in their thirties.

The couple were driving to Ouagadougou from Bobo-Dioulasso, more than 360 kilometers west of the Burkinabè capital, when their track was lost, according to the family of the Canadian. They were planning to go to Togo for a humanitarian project with the Zion'Gaïa organization.

The Burkinabè government spokesperson said in April 2019 that they were kidnapped and presumably taken out of the country, but that they were not in danger.

With AFP

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