Algerian authorities on Wednesday handed over freed Spanish hostage Gilbert Navarro to Spanish officials in a ceremony at the Foreign Ministry headquarters in Algiers.

ALGIERS/BAMAKO - A plane carrying Spanish hostage Gilbert Navarro, who was kidnapped in North Africa on Jan. 17, was expected to land in Algeria's Boufarik air base, Algerian state media reported on Tuesday.

Spanish hostage Gilbert Navarro, kidnapped in North Africa, has been freed by the Tuareg rebel alliance in northern Mali. He was expected to arrive at Algeria's Boufarik air base. The Spanish Foreign Ministry confirmed his release but did not comment on the circumstances of his kidnapping.

Following the withdrawal of France's Operation Barkhane, Algeria is being challenged on its southern borders by Sahelian sovereigns seeking to free themselves from its influence.

Local media claimed that a Spanish tourist had been captured by ISIS terrorists in Alegria and taken across the border into the neighbouring country of Mali.

Algeria’s Defense Ministry reported late Tuesday that Spanish tourist Gilbert Navarro, kidnapped earlier this month near the country’s southern border with Mali, has been safely recovered. According to the ministry, Navarro was handed over to the army’s security services and is unharmed.

Spanish hostage Gilbert Navarro, kidnapped in North Africa, is expected to land in Algeria after being released by a Tuareg rebel alliance in northern Mali.

A coalition of separatists in Mali, the Azawad Liberation Front, on Tuesday said it had freed a Spanish national kidnapped by a group of bandits in Algeria. The kidnappers had hoped to sell him to the Islamic State (IS) group in Mali but were stopped before they could hand him over.

A rebel alliance in Mali has freed a Spanish man kidnapped in southern Algeria, with plans to hand him over to authorities soon.

A Spanish man who was kidnapped last week near the Algeria-Mali border has landed near Algiers en route home, the defence ministry said Tuesday.

BAMAKO, Mali -- A rebel alliance in Mali said Tuesday it has freed a Spanish man who was kidnapped in southern Algeria last week. The Azawad Liberation Front (FLA), a coalition of separatist armed groups in Mali's predominately Tuareg north, said on the social media platform X that it freed Spanish citizen Gilbert Navarro.