A $50 MILLION HOSTAGE RANSOM FUNDED AL QAEDA'S MALI OFFENSIVE, UN SAYS. (PHOTO).

 A $50 million hostage ransom funded al Qaeda's Mali offensive, UN says

An estimated $50 million ransom paid to free a hostage seized by al Qaeda-linked militants in Mali in late 2025 has helped to fund their advances across West Africa and the group's global network, U.N. experts said.

A new U.N. report detailing the use of the ransom did not identify the hostage or say who had made the payment, Reuters reported.

Three ‌regional sources identified the country having made the payment as the United Arab Emirates. The sources said that an Emirati citizen, as well as two other foreigners who had been kidnapped but were not referenced in the U.N. report, were freed after money changed hands. They did not explain how it had been done.

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Most of the money went to fighters operating in the Sahel region, but some also flowed to al Qaeda in Yemen and the ⁠organisation's core leadership, which is likely to be in Iran or Afghanistan, the U.N. report said.

The two other hostages freed were from Pakistan and Iran, two regional security sources said, without detailing any ransom payments. The Pakistani and Iranian governments did not respond to requests for comment.

Al Qaeda, once led by powerful figures in Afghanistan and Pakistan and supported by influential branches in the Middle East, has evolved into a decentralized network whose strongest members are now ‌in Africa.