An Austrian woman has been kidnapped in the city of Agadez in Niger.
Austria’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced this late on Sunday evening to the AFP news agency.
– Unfortunately, we can confirm the matter, reads an e-mail.
It is the Austrian embassy in Algeria’s capital, Algiers, which is responsible for matters concerning Austrian citizens in Niger, a neighboring country to Algeria.
Earlier, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that the Austrian embassy had been “informed about a possible kidnapping of an Austrian woman in Agadez”.
The local media Air-Info in Agadez writes that it is 73-year-old Eva Gretzmacher, who has lived in the Niger city for 28 years.
Agadez is also known as the “gateway to the desert”.
The authorities in Niger, including the mayor of Agadez, have refused to comment on the case.
The Austrian embassy says it is in contact with several other countries, with the EU delegation in Niger and with the regional authorities in Niger about the matter.
At the same time, Austria’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs says that it has asked Niger’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs for help in the matter.
According to Air-Info’s information, the kidnappers appeared at Gretzmacher’s home on Saturday evening. Here, with guns drawn, they forced the guard in front of her home to open the door.
When they had entered the house, they allegedly forced the woman into a vehicle. According to the media, they must not have stolen any items from her home.
However, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has not itself commented on the process.
According to Air-Info and the Austrian newspaper Kurier, Eva Gretzmacher, who was born in the Austrian capital, Vienna, founded a center in 2010 through which she worked on projects in education, health, ecology, culture and art.
In 2021, according to Air-Info, she received threats of kidnapping.
Niger, located in the Sahel region of northern Africa, is characterized by poverty.
The Nigerien junta has ruled the country since July 2023, when President Mohamed Bazoum was overthrown in a military coup.
/ritzau/
Source: www.kristeligt-dagblad.dk
