Published by Global Banking & Finance Review®
Posted on January 22, 2025
2 min readLast updated: January 27, 2026
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Spanish hostage Gilbert Navarro, kidnapped in North Africa, was freed by Tuareg rebels and is expected to land in Algeria. The incident highlights regional tensions.
ALGIERS/BAMAKO (Reuters) - A plane carrying Spanish hostage Gilbert Navarro, who was kidnapped in North Africa on Jan. 17, was expected to land in Algeria's Boufarik air base, Algerian state media reported on Tuesday.
His expected arrival at the Algerian air base comes after a Tuareg rebel alliance in northern Mali said late on Monday they had released Navarro.
Spain's Foreign Ministry said on Friday that a Spanish man had been kidnapped in North Africa.
El Pais newspaper reported that the man was kidnapped in southern Algeria by an Islamist group and taken to Mali, though the Foreign Ministry did not confirm that information.
In a post on X, one of the leaders of the Azawad Liberation Front (FLA) said Spanish national Gilbert Navarro "kidnapped in Algeria a few days ago" and transported by his captors to north Mali had been freed by FLA forces on Monday.
An FLA spokesperson, Mohamed Elmaouloud Ramadane, said on X that the FLA had freed Navarro, who was in good health, and that more details would follow.
The Spanish Foreign Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Spain is in a dispute between Morocco and Algeria over the Western Sahara, which was controlled by Spain until 1975 and is now claimed by Morocco and the Algeria-backed Polisario Front, which seeks its independence.
(Reporting by Tiemoko Diallo; Additional reporting by Inti Landauro in Madrid, Menna Alaa El-Din and Jaidaa Taha in Cairo; Writing by Sofia Christensen; Editing by Bernadette Baum, Sharon Singleton and Sandra Maler)
The article discusses the release of Spanish hostage Gilbert Navarro by Tuareg rebels in Mali and his expected arrival in Algeria.
The Azawad Liberation Front (FLA) announced the release of Gilbert Navarro.
The incident is set against the backdrop of a regional dispute involving Spain, Morocco, and Algeria over the Western Sahara.
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