US tourist Kimberley Sue Endecott kidnapped for US$500,000 ransom in Ugandan national park has been rescued
- Endecott, 35, and her driver “Jean Paul”, were abducted by four gunmen in Queen Elizabeth National Park on Thursday
- They have both been recovered. A ransom was reportedly paid but it is unclear whether it was for the full half-million amount
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An American tourist and her driver have been rescued unharmed after being kidnapped in Queen Elizabeth National Park in southwestern Uganda last week, Ugandan authorities said on Sunday.
Kimberley Sue Endecott, 35, was abducted by gunmen near the border of the Democratic Republic of Congo on April 4. The kidnappers later demanded a ransom of $500,000 for her release; a safari firm said on Sunday that a ransom had been paid, though the amount was not clear.
“She has been located and rescued unharmed,” Uganda military spokesman Brigadier Richard Karemire said, referring to the tourist.
Police spokeswoman Polly Namaye, who did not confirm the ransom payment, credited the safe recovery of the pair “to the untiring efforts” of the search teams who were drawn from the police, military and the wildlife authority.
Meanwhile, Mike Walker, manager of Wild Frontiers Safaris, said the tourist and her guide, named only as “Jean-Paul” by a government spokesman, were “back safe”.
“Ransom paid and people exchanged,” he said by text, although he did not know the “precise amount yet”.
The victims were taken by four kidnappers who stopped a group of tourists at gunpoint around dusk on Tuesday.
The gunmen dragged the pair from their safari vehicle, but left behind two other tourists, whom police described as an “elderly couple”. They managed to raise the alarm from the lodge where they were staying.
Ugandan government spokesman Ofwono Opondo said in a tweet that the kidnappers had escaped.
The gunmen’s identity is unclear but the area where the abduction took place was once roamed by fighters belonging to an anti-Kampala rebel group, the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), which is now mostly dormant. The group is still believed to have camps in eastern Congo.
Abductions and related attacks on tourists are rare in Uganda and the last such incident occurred in 1999.
Then, an American couple, four Britons and two New Zealanders were killed along with four Ugandan guides after being ambushed by gunmen in the Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, a few kilometres south of the Queen Elizabeth park. Survivors said the killers appeared to be Congo-based Hutu rebels.
Queen Elizabeth National Park is one of most visited in the East African country, with tourists flocking there to see lions, hippos, crocodiles and various types of antelope.
