Mali government and Islamic State exchange prisoners

Two IS militants in the Sahara Desert (ISGS), Oumeya Ould Albakaye and Dadi Ould Cheghoub, were released by the Malian government in recent days.

According to a VNA correspondent in Africa, on July 8, Malian officials announced that the government had released at least two members of the Sahel branch of the self-proclaimed Islamic State (IS) terrorist organization.

This is an activity within the framework of the prisoner exchange between the two sides.

Specifically, two IS elements in the Sahara Desert (ISGS), Oumeya Ould Albakaye and Dadi Ould Cheghoub, were released in recent days.

The two cases were flown from the capital Bamako back to the city of Gao by military plane.

Among them, Oumeya Ould Albakaye, an explosives expert, was captured by French forces in June 2022, before Paris completed its withdrawal from Mali in August of the same year.

According to security sources, Oumeya Ould Albakaye was once considered a potential successor to former ISGS leader Adnan Abu Walid al-Sahrawi who was killed by French forces in August 2021.

The latest release was made as part of a prisoner exchange . According to observers, this is the first time the Malian government has released jihadists in exchange for peace in the northern region of the country.

Mali has been mired in a severe security crisis since 2012, with jihadist and separatist groups carrying out numerous terrorist attacks.

Originating in the north, the crisis has spread to the central region of the country, even to neighboring Burkina Faso and Niger./.

Trung Khanh (Vietnam News Agency/Vietnam+)

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