Key facts
- Austria's foreign ministry has "encouraging news" about an Austrian woman taken hostage in Niger.
- The woman, Eva G, is in her 70s and was kidnapped in Agadez in January 2025.
- The release process is described as complex and dangerous and has not yet been successfully completed.
- A Swiss citizen was also taken hostage in Niger in April 2025.
Austria's foreign ministry stated on Friday that it has received "encouraging news" concerning an Austrian woman in her 70s who was taken hostage in Niger in January 2025. The ministry cautioned, however, that the process of releasing her is complex, dangerous, and not yet successfully completed.
The woman, identified by Austrian authorities as Eva G, had been living in Niger for years before her kidnapping in the desert town of Agadez. Little information has been released regarding the group holding her or any demands made.
Niger, along with neighboring Mali and Burkina Faso, is grappling with a jihadist insurgency linked to al Qaeda and Islamic State. This conflict, which originated from a Tuareg rebellion in northern Mali in 2012, has resulted in thousands of deaths and millions displaced across the central Sahel region over the past decade. Kidnappings in Niger appeared to intensify last year, with a Swiss citizen also taken hostage in April 2025.