American abducted by suspected jihadists in Niger

On Tuesday, Kevin Rideout, an  American Christian missionary in the West African state of Niger, was abducted from his home in the country’s capital, as first reported by CBS News. Rideout had lived in Niamey since 2010, where he worked as a pilot for the US-based Serving in Mission organization.

According to CBS, three gunmen raided Rideout’s home compound Tuesday night, which is only approximately 100 yards from Niger’s Presidential Palace. His phone was then last tracked to roughly 56 miles north of Niamey, corresponding with areas where the Islamic State’s Sahel Province (ISSP) maintains a strong presence.

As of the time of publishing, no group has claimed responsibility for the abduction, and little additional detail has been reported on Rideout’s current whereabouts or condition.

Both ISSP and its rival, Al Qaeda’s Group for Support of Islam and Muslims (JNIM), have historically abducted Westerners across the Sahel to obtain ransom payments.

For instance, ISSP abducted American Jeffrey Woodke in Niger in 2016 and German national Jorg Lange, also in Niger, in 2018. Lange was released in 2022, while Woodke was eventually sold by ISSP to JNIM and then later freed in 2023 alongside abducted French national Olivier Dubois. In neighboring Burkina Faso, ISSP abducted and executed Canadian national Kirk Woodman in 2019.

JNIM and its various constituent predecessor groups have a long history of hostage taking in the Sahel dating back to the 2000s. The vast majority of Western hostages have been freed in recent years, including Romanian national Iulian Ghergut, who was kidnapped in Burkina Faso in 2015 and released in 2023; Australian Ken Elliot, also abducted in Burkina Faso in 2016 and released in 2023; American Suellen Tennyson, abducted and released in Burkina Faso in 2022; and the members Italian family kidnapped in Mali in 2022 were released in 2024.

It is unclear how many ransoms were paid to free the various hostages in the Sahel, but several of the hostage releases are believed to be the result of such payments to the jihadists.

Rideout’s abduction in Niger comes as security in the region further deteriorates. Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger are all under military rule after their respective governments were overthrown by their militaries in 2021, 2022, and 2023, respectively.

Since then, all three ruling factions have turned against both their longtime Western security partners, notably France and the United States, and local collectives, like the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), in favor of Russia and its Wagner/Africa Corps paramilitary groups.

The United States was forced to abandon its drone bases in Niger last year, leaving a significant gap in regional intelligence gathering and sharing. However, unconfirmed reports indicate that Americans have resumed sharing intelligence with Mali amid the country’s dire security situation. For instance, JNIM has successfully cut off fuel to the Malian capital, Bamako, in recent weeks.

Both ISSP and JNIM have surged across the region, with JNIM increasingly threatening the future of both Mali and Burkina Faso, while ISSP remains more of a threat inside Niger (though JNIM also maintains a presence in the country).

Caleb Weiss is an editor of FDD’s Long War Journal and a senior analyst at the Bridgeway Foundation, where he focuses on the spread of the Islamic State in Central Africa.