Last updated on September 11th, 2021 at 02:50 pm
Wearing a surgical mask, disposable gloves and booties to guard against COVID-19, a young Italian woman returned to her homeland Sunday after 18 months as a hostage in eastern Africa.
Silvia Romano lowered her mask briefly to display a broad smile after she stepped off an Italian government plane at Rome-Ciampino International Airport. She hugged her mother and other family members, and touched elbows instead of shaking hands with Italian Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio.
Romano, 24, was working as a volunteer with an Italian humanitarian group when she was abducted in November 2018 during an attack by gunman in Kenya. Italian Premier Giuseppe Conte has thanked the Italian intelligence agents who worked for her release, which took place Friday in Somalia.
Romano was taken to the Italian Embassy in Mogadishu after she was freed. Rome-based prosecutors investigate crimes committed abroad against Italian citizens, and they are expected to question her about the kidnapping.
KnowAfrika reports said the abductors eventually passed her into the hands of militants linked to Somalia’s al-Shabab extremists. Al-Shabab has been blamed for a series of kidnappings of foreigners along Kenya’s coast.
Friends and acquaintances in the Milan neighborhood where Romano’s family lives applauded from windows, balconies and on the streets when the plane carrying Romano home landed in Rome.
KnowAfrika also have reported that she converted to Islam while in captivity. Neither her family nor Italian officials have commented on the assertion. When she got off the plane, Romano wore a loose-fitting garment over her hair and African outfit.
(AP)
A group called Progressive Forces in South Africa has launched a petition against MissUniverse Nigeria Chidimma Adetshina, with the aim…
Mauritius on Saturday overruled its decision to prohibit social media until the election onNovember 10th which was caused by a…
The UAE’s Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, His Highness Sheikh Khaled bin Mohamed bin Zayed AlNahyan was in Addis Ababa…
Gilbert Machokoto, a former teacher, said that setting up a business in the late 1980s, shortlyafter Zimbabwe's independence, was ‘like…
Following elections in which the party that had ruled the diamond-rich nation for almost 60years suffered a historic setback. Botswana's…
A lightning strike at a refugee camp in Uganda kills 14 people including children with 34 othershospitalized. The incident happened…
This website uses cookies.