Wife of al-Qaida hostage says U.S. effort to free him has failed, pleads with captors
ABC News
The wife of an American held hostage by Islamist militants in Africa criticized the U.S. government's response Wednesday and made a plea for the release of her husband.
The wife of an American held hostage by Islamist militants in Africa broke years of silence on Wednesday to criticize U.S. government efforts and to make a plea to the leader of an al-Qaida-affiliated group to release her husband.
Els Woodke's husband, Jeffery Woodke, is a Christian humanitarian aid worker who was kidnapped in October 2016 in Niger, where he had worked for decades aiding nomadic peoples in the Sahel region. She has largely avoided public comments other than several pleas to the captor networks, as her family and U.S. officials worked quietly to bring him home -- but now she has decided to speak out.
"That situation has changed, and I'm now asking for help from my brothers and sisters in Christ, from the public, and from the governments of Mali and the United States," said Woodke, a teacher's assistant in McKinleyville, California.
Els Woodke appears in the new ABC News feature documentary "3212 UN-REDACTED" on Hulu to tell her husband's story and reflect on an ill-fated U.S. Special Forces mission in 2017, which a former commanding general of U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) claimed publicly was tied to finding Woodke.
