Mali: behind the liberation of Colombian nun Gloria Narvaez

Colombian nun Gloria Narvaez was received by Pope Francis at the Vatican on October 10 following her release in Mali.

AFP - HO

Text by: RFI Follow

2 min

After 4 years and 8 months in captivity, the Colombian nun, Sister Gloria Cécilia Narvaez was released this weekend in northern Mali.

On Saturday, October 9, she arrived in Bamako where she was received by the president of the transition, Colonel Assimi Goïta in the presence of Cardinal Jean Zerbo, Archbishop of Bamako, before flying to Rome where she met Pope Francis on Sunday. .

What are the details of his release after being kidnapped by jihadists close to Iyad Ag Ghali?

Advertising

Read more

With our correspondent in Bamako,

At the request of the Vatican, the Sant'Egidio Christian community based in Rome played an important role.

Last August, taking advantage of an official stay in Bamako, Sant'Egidio officials took the matter forward.

For example, there was a meeting with local mediators accustomed to hostage release issues, as well as a meeting - according to our information - with intelligence officials in the sub-region.

At the Catholic Church of Mali, instructions of discretion have been given.

According to a source at the heart of the matter, between April and May, the kidnappers of the Colombian nun have already agreed to release her, but at the last moment, a grain of sand in the machine made the operation fail.

The Malian and Italian intelligence services have reportedly decided to better coordinate actions to obtain his release.

From a source close to a Malian mediator known in this kind of case, the nun was in the hands of supporters of the jihadist leader Iyad Ag Ghali of the Support Group for Islam and Muslims.

A question arises: in return for the release, was there a payment of ransom and / or release of jihadists imprisoned here or elsewhere?

Our interlocutor replies: "

".

This is the same group that kidnapped and released two Italian nationals last year, including a priest.

And it is the same jihadist group that

.

►

Newsletter

Receive all international news directly in your mailbox

I subscribe

Follow all the international news by downloading the RFI application

google-play-badge_FR

• Mali