Kevin Rideout released after Niger kidnapping, group says

American missionary Kevin Rideout has been released after more than nine months in captivity following his kidnapping in Niger, the Christian organisation SIM International said Friday.

SIM International said Rideout, who worked with the group, was “in good health in the care of US officials” and would soon be reunited with his family. The group said he was kidnapped from outside his home in the Nigerien capital Niamey last October.

The Trump administration has made Rideout's release a priority in its latest strategy on African Sahel states, after years of efforts against extremism produced limited success.

Wamaps, a collective of journalists in west Africa, said last year that Rideout was abducted near the presidential palace in central Niamey, in an area that hosts international organisations.

The New York Times reported that Rideout was believed at one point to have been held in neighbouring Mali by the Sahel branch of the Islamic State group. The newspaper, citing an unidentified US official, said it was unclear which group held him at the end of his captivity because he may have been moved.

Niger authorities did not immediately issue a statement. AFP contacted the US State Department for comment.

The New York Times reported that Rideout is 50, had worked as a missionary in Niger for 19 years and was a pilot for SIM International. The group describes itself as an evangelical mission agency working with churches around the world and says it has teams in more than 70 countries.

Niger has been governed by a military junta since a 2023 coup. The junta expelled US and French forces that had been assisting in the fight against jihadist violence.

The US State Department's travel advisory for Niger remains at its highest level. It says: “Do not travel to Niger for any reason due to crime, unrest, terrorism, health, and kidnapping.”

US missionary Philip Walton was kidnapped in Massalata, near Niger's border with Nigeria, in October 2020 and freed the same month after intervention by US special forces in northern Nigeria. US humanitarian worker Jeffery Woodke was kidnapped by jihadists in southwest Niger in October 2016 and freed in 2023.