Map of kidnappings in Central Sahel and Coastal West Africa

𝗥𝗶𝘀𝗲 𝗶𝗻 𝗸𝗶𝗱𝗻𝗮𝗽𝗽𝗶𝗻𝗴𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗲𝗶𝗴𝗻𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗦𝗮𝗵𝗲𝗹 (𝗠𝗮𝗹𝗶 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗡𝗶𝗴𝗲𝗿)
More than 40 foreign nationals have now been kidnapped across the Sahel since the beginning of 2025, highlighting the increasing threat of militant abductions. In Mali, JNIM has abducted at least 28 foreigners, mainly targeting mining and industrial workers as part of the group’s broader economic warfare. ISSP has carried out or sponsored kidnappings of 13 people in Niger and neighboring border areas, often outsourcing operations to criminal networks.

The most recent attack on 27 November in Mali has largely gone unnoticed, when JNIM fighters killed one Chinese worker and kidnapped at least six others at a mining site near Koniko, Yanfolila, about 6km from the border with Guinea. The incident likely prompted the Chinese Embassy in Mali to urge “illegal gold mining enterprises and personnel to immediately stop work and evacuate.”

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