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Sister Gloria Cecilia Narvaez had been detained by an al-Qaeda-linked group from February 2017 until her release on October 9.
A Colombian nun who has been kidnapped and held hostage by the Malian army for more than four years has returned home.
Sister Gloria Cecilia Narvaez, 59, was greeted by 12 nuns, singing “welcome, welcome, our heart is with you”, as she arrived at Bogota Airport on Tuesday.
He was arrested on February 7, 2017, in southern Mali near the border with Burkina Faso, where she served as a missionary. In a letter he wrote last year, he said he had been arrested by al-Qaeda-affiliated Islam and Islamist groups (GSIM).
He was released on October 9 following an agreement between the governments of Mali and Colombia.
Although the details of how he was released were not released, Colombian police have previously said that the group that arrested him is seeking compensation.
“The Lord gave me the joy of being with brothers and sisters,” she said, embracing the waiting nuns. “I thank you with all my heart.”
In Bogata, Narvaez said he tried to persuade his captors to release more prisoners. He told of people who had been kidnapped from their homeland, who had been traumatized and robbed during a war that lasted more than 50 years.
“I think of all the pain that people go through when they are kidnapped here in Colombia, around the world, in Mali, and how many people are left,” said the nun, whose mother died in September 2020, awaiting the release of her daughter.
Edgar Narvaez, the sister of Colombian nun Gloria Cecilia Narvaez, speaks to reporters after receiving news of her sister’s release in October. [File: Leonardo Catro/AFP]At the airport, Colonel Gustavo Camargo, deputy to the anti-kidnapping police force who went to Mali to ask for his release, told the nun: “Your power is amazing.”
Human abduction is rampant more and more in Mali in recent years, particularly in the northern and central region of the country, where the number of armed forces has increased since 2012 due to economic insecurity, natural resources, and pre-existing conflicts.
Many Westerners are still in the hands of the country’s armed forces, many of whom have sworn allegiance to al-Qaeda or ISIL (ISIS). These include an American religious leader kidnapped in Niger and a French journalist abducted in northeastern Mali in April.
Before returning to Colombia, Narvaez went to the Vatican to meet with Pope Francis.
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