Foreigner kidnappings soar in Africa’s lawless Sahel region

When Marin Petrović arrived in Bamako at the beginning of September last year, he was delighted. The Bosnian national had spent years applying for tourist visas to Mali, but was repeatedly denied them for security reasons.

The West African country has long been plagued by civil war, foreign military interventions and Islamist insurgencies.

Petrović declined to speak to the BBC for this article.

The plan was to visit some of the country’s spectacular landmarks before heading home. In Bamako, Petrović enjoyed the sights and sounds of markets, busy roads, schools and even tasted local beers, according to the post.

“The next day, I left for Mopti, known for its 100-year-old mud mosque,” ​​he continued, referring to the Great Mosque of Mopti, a 15-meter-high architectural feat made of mud bricks.

On Instagram, Petrović describes himself as a “mountain rescue” expert and “guide”, whose motto is not to “dream your life”, but to “live your dream”. But before Petrović could pursue his dream of exploring Mali’s ancient treasures, his journey took an unexpected turn.

“An armed attack takes place on the road between Bla and San,” he said in the same Instagram post.

“Six motorcycles with two long-bearded terrorists, each armed with Kalashnikovs, surround the vehicle and drag me into the bushes, on non-existent paths, in the undergrowth, in the swamps, far from the main road… I was kidnapped by Al-Qaeda jihadists!!!”

Petrović has become the latest victim of a worrying trend involving foreign travelers and expatriate workers in West Africa’s Sahel region.

His story is not unusual. By 2025, growing insecurity and new jihadist tactics have led to a notable increase in high-profile kidnappings of foreigners in the Sahel.

The latest data from Acled, an independent observer of global conflicts, shows a considerable increase in kidnappings of foreigners in Mali and Niger in 2025, compared to previous years.

By the end of November, 30 kidnappings of foreigners had been recorded, and this figure for the whole year is likely to be even higher.

Some kidnapping cases have received international media attention. Two United Arab Emirates (UAE) citizens, one of whom is believed to be a member of the Emirati royal family, were kidnapped in Mali in late September.

The purpose of their visit and the exact circumstances of their kidnapping remain unclear. Some local media suggested that at least one of the men was involved in a business venture, possibly gold mining.

“Royal ransoms, one of the main sources of money for Mali’s jihadist kidnappers”, published a title.

Other particularly high-profile cases took place in Niger: Austrian national Eva Gretzmacher, 73, and American civilian pilot Kevin Rideout. Both were involved in humanitarian work and kidnapped from their homes.

But BBC Monitoring’s analysis of high-profile kidnappings in Africa has shown that in terms of numbers, it is Chinese workers who bear the brunt of overseas kidnappings.

Around 70% of cases recorded across the continent occurred in the Sahel countries of Mali and Niger.

Of the total 89 foreigners kidnapped, 38 held Chinese passports – a figure significantly higher than the second most common nationality, Indian, of 14.

Mainly responsible for last year’s rise was the al-Qaeda-affiliated Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM), which was behind a surge in jihadist attacks that swept several West African countries last year, including Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger.

Foreign nationals are considered particularly valuable to JNIM because they generate higher ransoms than locals, in addition to giving the group a stronger basis for negotiating with other actors in the conflict, such as the Malian government.

“The ransom is an obvious incentive for the group,” explained Héni Nsaibia, senior West Africa analyst at Acled.

“But I think this is more part of a broader economic war and has direct consequences for bilateral relations.”

Since September last year, JNIM has attacked fuel trucks heading to Mali’s capital, Bamako, choking the city of essential imports and paralyzing many activities.

Nsaibia believes the kidnappings are another way of putting pressure on the Malian economy, with the ultimate aim of undermining the military government that took power in 2020.

According to Nsaibia, Chinese workers are an obvious target for JNIM, both to deprive the regime of resources and to undermine its ties with China.

“The Chinese are heavily involved in cooperation with the Malian state. They manage mining sites, industries and buildings,” he told the BBC.

The activists’ ultimate goal is to make it too costly and dangerous for foreign companies to invest in Mali.

Petrović spent more than a month as a JNIM prisoner.

“I slept on the hard ground for 55 nights, 55 days boiling water in a pond where cattle defecated to survive, eating dry rice and nothing else. I woke up to the sounds of all kinds of animals, mainly wolves and hyenas, and every day I killed scorpions around where I slept.” he said in a follow-up post on November 16.

At times, Petrović even managed to see the humanity in his captors, despite his discomfort and constant fear of being killed.

“I realized that, incredible as it may seem, there are nice people inside Al-Qaeda, bearded men who, although they are cold on the outside, open their souls after a while,” he writes.

“No matter how much they hide behind long beards and powerful weapons, no matter how primitive and uneducated they are, many of them have a heart.”

Fortunately for Petrović, his traumatic ordeal had a happy ending. JNIM released him and another Bosnian national in late October, after 50 days of captivity.

The release took place without a ransom being paid, according to Nsaibia, an authority on kidnappings in the region.

Petrović did not publicly release details of his release, but said he managed to survive thanks to his experience in mountain rescue and “‘playing the game’ persistently and convincingly from start to finish.”

Nsaibia believes JNIM released the Bosnians without ransom because the group is waging a charm offensive toward the West and generally makes concerted efforts not to kidnap or kill Americans or Europeans.

“They are avoiding it to enhance their credibility with international stakeholders and the international community,” Nsaibia said.

Another factor could be that China does little to intervene or exert diplomatic pressure in cases where its nationals are kidnapped, according to the analyst.

However, there are recent signs of a change in tone from the Chinese government.

The Chinese embassy in Mali did not respond to the BBC’s request for comment.

The other victims were not as lucky as Petrović.

Austrian Eva Greztmacher, now 74 years old, is still in captivity, more than a year after her kidnapping.

Her son Christoph Gretzmacher worries how much longer his elderly mother will be able to endure the extreme conditions of the desert.

Christoph told the BBC he was reluctant to give further interviews as the dust settled on his latest media campaign to ensure “the case does not disappear from public attention”.

“For now, I have to wait and see how this pressure translates into concrete movements, while gathering new information from the region and observing how the different key players reposition themselves,” he explained.

“At the end of the day, it’s about a human life and the responsibility that comes with it. I remain committed to doing everything I can – with care, responsibility and in coordination with those involved – to help bring my mother home safely.”

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