Kidnapped Mali politician and French aid worker freed

Jihadists abducted Soumaila Cisse in March, while Sophie Petronin was taken in 2016

Jihadists in Mali have freed a prominent opposition leader who was kidnapped earlier this year and a French aid worker held captive for almost four years, in a major exchange of prisoners with the country's new transition government.

Soumaila Cisse, a 70-year-old former presidential candidate, was kidnapped in March while campaigning in his home town in the restive north of the country.