Romanian Hostage Seized From Burkina Faso Mine Releases After Eight Years

A Romanian security personel who was kidnapped from a manganese mining project in Burkina Faso in 2015 has been released and safely returned to Romania, the foreign ministry stated this on Wednesday.
Iulian Ghergut was 39 years when he was kidnapped by unidentified gunmen from the Tambao manganese mining project in northern Burkina Faso near the border with Mali where he was working in security.
Islamist militant group Al-Mourabitoun later claimed the kidnapping, when a speaker for the group said it had offered terms to Romania for his release. The foreign ministry confirmed Ghergut was alive in June of this year.
He has been released and is now safely on Romanian territory,” the ministry said in a statement, adding it was thanking “all foreign partners, particularly Moroccan authorities for the important support given to solve this extremely complicated case.

Reuters/ Patience A.