An American missionary pilot abducted in Niger last fall has reportedly been freed and is now on his way back to the United States.
Kevin Rideout, 50, a pilot serving with an evangelical organization, was seized on October 21 outside his home in Niamey, Niger’s capital, just a few blocks from the presidential palace, Christianity Today reports. Three unidentified men were said to have carried out the kidnapping.
After the abduction, the armed men were reportedly seen moving toward the Tillaberi region, an area where extremist groups affiliated with ISIS and al-Qaeda have been active.
A day later, the US Embassy in Niamey issued a security alert, cautioning American citizens about a heightened kidnapping threat in the country.
At the time, a State Department spokesperson told CBS News: ‘We are seeing efforts from across the government to support the recovery and safe return of this US citizen.’
Rideout’s case later became a priority for the Trump White House and the US military’s Africa Command, which succeeded in bringing him back into American custody on Thursday, two officials familiar with the situation told The New York Times.
The circumstances surrounding Rideout’s release have not been made public. Officials also have not confirmed which terrorist or criminal network was holding the missionary at the end of his captivity, with one official saying he may have been moved recently.
Still, proof-of-life images shared with American officials in the past 48 hours indicated that Rideout appeared to be in good health, one official said.
Kevin Rideout, a 50-year-old pilot, has reportedly been released from captivity in Niger
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Rideout had been working in Niger as a Christian missionary for 19 years. He also worked as a pilot for Serving in Mission, a Charlotte, North Carolina-based organization that bills itself as a ‘global mission family serving in 70 countries’ with a focus on outreach to communities with few Christians.
Experts have suggested he was likely taken by the Islamic State Sahel Providence or criminal groups connected to the terrorist organization.
In recent years, the group and its rivals have grown in strength in parts of Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso due to a security vacuum caused by junta leaders kicking out Western military assistance and closing the UN peacekeeping mission in Mali in 2023.
That same year, Niger’s general Abdourahamane Tiani ousted President Mohamed Bazoum in a military coup. Tiani then vowed to restore security and ordered foreign troops, including the US military, to vacate the landlocked country.
In the aftermath, the military government started to view foreign missionaries as spies and barred them from entering villages and remote areas, Olu Sunday, president and CEO of Royal Missionary Outreach International in Nigeria and Niger said.
Moussa Djibo, a Nigerian missionary with Calvary Ministries in Niamey, also noted that in the mission school he attended, teachers told students that dying in the mission field was a very real probability.
But following Rideout’s abduction, officials in neighboring Nigeria allowed US forces to fly surveillance missions from its bases, in part to locate Rideout, as American soldiers helped the country with training and surveillance in its fight against jihadists.
Rideout’s abduction came as thousands of Christians and Muslims were killed in land disputes, sectarian violence and terrorism, which Christian activists and Republican lawmakers have viewed as persecution of Christians.
Analysts, however, say there is no clear evidence to suggest that Christians are attacked more frequently than any other religious groups in the country.
The Daily Mail has reached out to the White House and the Department of Defense for comment.
This is a breaking news story and will be updated.
