Al-Qaida group in Mali frees Swede man captured in 2011
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E-mail Xinhua, June 27, 2017
Johan Gustafsson, the 42-year-old Swedish man held captive by an al-Qaida linked group in Mali since 2011, has been released, the Swedish Ministry for Foreign Affairs said Monday.
"It is with great pleasure that I can announce that Johan Gustafsson has been released and can return to Sweden," Foreign Minister Margot Wallstrom said in a statement issued on the government website.
"Johan's situation has touched many of us and extensive efforts have been made to secure his release," she said.
"The government would like to highlight the excellent cooperation that has marked the work of the Foreign Ministry, the National Police's operational department and other Swedish and foreign authorities -- work that finally made it possible for Johan to come home," Wallstrom said in the statement.
According to Swedish newspaper Expressen, Gustafsson has landed in Sweden.
Gustafsson was traveling through Africa on a motorbike when he was kidnapped in Timbuktu by AQIM, al-Qaida's North African branch, in November 2011. Since then, he has been a prisoner of the group.
Information about Gustafsson's well-being has been scarce during the days he was held hostage. But his family in Sweden received intermittent signs, including video footage, that he was alive. It was in March that they were assured of their son's good health, Swedish public television broadcaster SVT reported.
The Swedish Ministry for Foreign Affairs will hold a press conference later tonight.
Goran Gustafsson, Johan Gustafsson's father, would not confirm or comment the information to Swedish news agency TT.
According to Johan Ripas, SVT's correspondent in Africa, the captors demanded an enormous ransom -- a sum of nearly 23 million U.S. dollars was mentioned. It is still unclear what has changed, SVT reported.
"There was talk of trying to reduce the ransom to cover 'food and lodging' during captivity," Ripas told SVT.
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