Swiss Hostage Released in Mali

Special forces from Burkina Faso swept into rebel-held northern Mali on Tuesday aboard a helicopter and whisked a Swiss hostage to safety in a pre-arranged handover by Islamist rebels.

Beatrice Stockly, her face clear of the black turban the rebels had her wear, appeared tired but in high spirits on the helicopter flying her to Ouagadougou after the rebel group Ansar Dine handed her over in Timbuktu.

"I am offering you freedom chocolates," she told the officials, security personnel and an Agence France Presse journalist on the helicopter, after fumbling through her leather satchel and, with a beaming smile, producing chocolate.

After a refueling stop, she landed in the Burkina Faso capital Ouagadougou, where she declined to speak to a throng of journalists.

Ansar Dine did not initially kidnap Stockly, a social worker in her 40s, security sources said, but they took custody of her following a shootout with a private militia and then brokered a deal with the Swiss government for her release.

Before flying out with the freed hostage, Burkinabe President Blaise Compaore's chief military advisor, General Gilbert Djindjere, spoke with Ansar Dine militant Sanda Boumana under a tent.

Both men said no ransom was paid for the Swiss woman's release.

"We never asked for anything," Boumana said.

The Swiss foreign ministry thanked "all the people and the authorities who worked" on the operation, "in particular authorities from Mali and Burkina Faso."

Stockly, a Christian who had refused to leave the northern Mali town of Timbuktu when it fell to Islamist extremists and Tuareg rebels on April 1st, "is fine, considering the circumstances," the ministry statement said.

Djindjere said Stockly did not want to immediately return to Switzerland and would remain in Burkina Faso for a few days for "time to think.”

Burkina Faso's President Blaise Compoare has played a key role in securing the release of those kidnapped in the Sahel, particularly when Westerners are involved.

Ansar Dine's assault on Timbuktu was backed by fighters from Al-Qaeda's north Africa branch known as al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM).