The Global Advisor Kidnap & extortive crime | October 2025
Africa
The number of reported incidents in Nigeria remained broadly stable in Nigeria in the third quarter of 2025 relative to the same period in 2024. However, kidnap numbers remained elevated. Control Risks recorded a weekly average of 32 reported kidnaps over the reporting period, with many more incidents likely going unreported. Kidnap gangs have continued to confront security escorts during abductions of personnel they viewed as particularly lucrative targets, such as foreign nationals. Control Risks has recorded three incidents over the quarter in which kidnap gangs targeted a convoy or worksite despite the presence of security personnel, with two incidents in Kogi state and one in Edo state. Nigeria will continue to rank among the few countries where sophisticated kidnap groups maintain the capability to routinely confront security escorts. The kidnapping environment in the Sahel region has continued to deteriorate, resulting in further abductions of foreign nationals. A number of threat actors, including al-Qaida’s affiliate Nusrat al-Islam (JNIM), Islamic State Sahel Province (ISSP) and financially motivated criminals, have continued to engage more heavily in the crime. The blockade imposed by JNIM in parts of western Mali has sustained a permissive environment for kidnap groups to operate. The 25 September abduction of two Emiratis and an Iranian national, 30km south of Bamako in the Koulikoro region, is one notable example of the intensification of kidnapper activity beyond their traditional areas of operation. Capacity gaps within security forces and threat actors’ intent to sustain momentum from previous incidents will continue to drive an elevated kidnap threat to commercial operators over the coming quarters.
Humanitarian personnel accounted for a high proportion of kidnap victims in Sudan and South Sudan . While the kidnap threat to humanitarian personnel in Sudan immediately increased following the onset of the conflict in April 2023, South Sudan saw its kidnapping environment further deteriorate over the past quarter amid a surge in clashes between government and opposition forces. Militias and financially motivated criminals in both countries will continue to view humanitarian personnel as viable targets, both for financial gain and as part of a deliberate effort to control the provision of aid amid the wider conflict. Ethiopia saw a reduction in reported kidnaps in the third quarter of 2025 relative to the same period in 2024. However, Control Risks assesses that the crime is highly underreported and actual incidents likely occur frequently, especially in the Oromia and Amhara regions, the country’s kidnapping hotspots. Over the last quarter, members of the Oromo Liberation Army (OLA) in the Oromia region continued to carry out mass kidnaps (where five or more victims are abducted in a single incident) to assert territorial control and demand ransoms. Fano militias in the Amhara region will also continue to abduct humanitarian and inter-governmental personnel in targeted abductions. Kidnap groups will continue to operate with high impunity, posing a sustained threat to commercial operators over the coming quarters.
62 % of abductions happened in transit/outdoors 84 % of abductions resolved in less than 8 days 20 sectors affected
Key developments July to September 2025
Reported kidnaps across Sub-Saharan Africa remained comparatively stable in the third quarter of 2025 relative to the same period in 2024, and reported kidnaps remained frequent in key regional hotspots. The number of reported incidents remained broadly stable in Nigeria in the third quarter of 2025 relative to the same period in 2024. The kidnapping environment in the Sahel continued to deteriorate, with southern and western regions of Mali experiencing an uptick in incidents. Humanitarian personnel accounted for a high proportion of kidnap victims in Sudan and South Sudan . Reported kidnaps in South Sudan have increased amid escalating violence. Ethiopia continued to present a challenging kidnapping environment for commercial personnel. The Oromia and Amhara regions remain the country’s kidnapping hotspots.
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