Hostage released

Werner Greiner, who was captured along with three other Westerners has been turned over to Malian government authorities by al-Qaeda's Northern African wing.

"We can confirm that the Swiss (hostage) has been freed," said Seydou Cissouma, a spokesman for Mali's president.

He was released in Mali's northern desert after negotiations and according to Swiss radio, no ransom had been paid.

"He will get a medical examination and care. Once his health permits, he will be repatriated to Switzerland to be with his family," said foreign ministry spokesman Markus Boelin to Swiss radio ATS in Geneva.

Greiner and his wife Gabrielle Burco, fellow tourist Marianne Petzold of Germany and British national Edwin Dyer were taken captive in January in Niger near the Mali border.

The women were released on April 22 along with two Canadian diplomats who were kidnapped in December.

On June 3, the militants announced that they had beheaded the fourth hostage, Edwin Dyer, because the British government would not release a radical Muslim cleric named Abu Qatada.

Greiner is to meet with Mali President Toure in the capital of Bamako before returning home.

av/AFP/Reuters
Editor:Chuck Penfold