Gunmen have freed four election workers and a deputy mayor a day after they were kidnapped in the remote north Mali town of Tessalit, a local official said last weekend.
“The five hostages were picked up this morning by French soldiers outside the town. We do not know what led to them being freed,” Cheick Fanta Mady Bouare, the prefect of Tessalit, told the news agency Reuters.
The kidnapping follows accusations from Mali’s government that the MNLA [Mouvement National de Libération de L’Azawad] rebels had violated the ceasefire deal this week after four people died in clashes between pro-separatist Tuareg youths and black Africans in Kidal.
Bouare said that the MNLA’s Baye Ag Diknane was arrested in connection with the kidnapping. It was not clear if he was acting on MNLA orders.
Mali remains under intense foreign pressure to hold the nationwide vote on July 28.
Soumaila Cisse, a frontrunner in the electoral race, said the kidnappings ought not undermine the credibility of the elections.
“Events in remote parts of the country should not disturb normal progress,” he told Reuters. “People are trying to prevent the elections from taking place but we should resist this provocation.”
