Austria reports 'encouraging news' about release of hostage in Niger

VIENNA, Sept 11 - Austria's foreign ministry said on Friday it had "encouraging news" about an Austrian woman in her 70s taken hostage in 2025 in Niger, where she had lived for years, but it cautioned that the process of releasing her was not yet complete.

The woman, identified by Austrian authorities as Eva G, was kidnapped in the desert town of Agadez in central Niger in January 2025. Little information has been released about which group is holding her or what demands have been made.

"There is encouraging news regarding the fate of Eva G," Austria's foreign ministry said in a one-paragraph statement.

"The complex and very dangerous release and handover process has, however, not yet been completed successfully," it said, declining to elaborate.

Niger, like its neighbours Mali and Burkina Faso, is battling a jihadist insurgency linked to al Qaeda and Islamic State that spun out of a Tuareg rebellion in northern Mali in 2012. The fighting has killed thousands and displaced millions across West Africa's central Sahel region over the past decade.

Kidnappings appeared to intensify in Niger last year. A Swiss citizen was also taken hostage in April 2025. REUTERS