"Both were rescued from the Democratic Republic of the Congo and are safely back in Kanungu district in Uganda," said Ofwono Opondo. "They are back at the lodge and she is expected to be in Kampala tomorrow."
Opondo said the kidnappers fled the scene of the rescue when law enforcement officers and soldiers moved in.
Ugandan police had said Thursday that an armed gang kidnapped Endicott and her driver at gunpoint from the national park and had made frequent demands for a $500,000 ransom. Police had said they would not offer the money.
A ransom was paid by touring company Wild Frontiers to free Endicott and her tour guide, a source with knowledge of the exchange told CNN on Sunday. The handover was "quiet and peaceful," the source said.
A spokesperson with Wild Frontiers Uganda, the company Endicott toured with, said neither Endicott nor her tour guide were harmed. The spokesperson said the identities of the alleged kidnappers have not been revealed.
The two were abducted at gunpoint while on a game drive on Tuesday evening, the Ugandan Tourism Board and Ugandan police said in a statement.
Four other people were taken at the same time, but they were freed while Endicott and her driver were taken from the park, officials said.
CNN's Hilary McGann, Samson Ntale and Bukola Adebayo, Robyn Kriel and Anna Cardovilis contributed to this report.
An American woman and her safari guide who were kidnapped in a Ugandan wilderness park and held five days by armed captors were returned unharmed on Sunday after a ransom was paid for their release, authorities said.
Kim Sue Endicott of Southern California and her tour guide, Congolese national Jean-Paul Mirenge Remezo, were freed in a negotiated handover, officials said.
The kidnappers who abducted them at gunpoint in Queen Elizabeth National Park had demanded a $500,000 ransom, but it was not immediately known how much was paid to secure their release or who paid it.
Endicott and Remezo were taken back to a lodge at the park, a spokesman for the Wild Frontiers Uganda safari operation told ABC News.
(Uganda Wildlife Authority) The Queen Elizabeth National Park in Uganda.
"Security services have this evening managed to rescue kidnapped citizen Kimberly Sue Endicott and her driver Jean Paul Mirenge [Remezo]," the government of Uganda tweeted.
The tweet expressed appreciation to the Ugandan police and sister security agencies "that led the operation to return Sue and Jean Paul."
In a statement, the Ugandan government said Endicott and Remezo were "recovered unharmed, in good health" and were in the "safe hands of the joint security team."
Security services have this evening managed to rescue kidnapped U.S. citizen Kimberly Sue Endicott and her driver Jean Paul Mirenge. Appreciation goes to @PoliceUg and sister security agencies that led the operation to return Sue and Jean Paul.
News of the kidnapped victims' release came after the Federal Bureau of Investigation got involved in the search and a relative of Edincott asked for more help for the U.S. government in finding Endicott, the owner of a Costa Mesa skincare shop.
Details of how Endicott and Remezo were saved were not immediately available.
“The family has done what’s been asked of them to do. I think it’s the government’s time to help us,” Kim Endicott's cousin, Rich Endicott, a 62-year-old banker from Phoenix, Arizona, told the Associated Press.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo expressed empathy for the Endicott family last week but said the U.S. has a long tradition of not paying a ransom to secure the release of U.S. citizens.
“Please remember that any payment to a terrorist or a terrorist regime gives money so that they can seize more of our people,” Pompeo said after meeting privately with relatives of other U.S. citizens being held captive aboard. “Even a small payment to a group in, say, Africa can facilitate the killing or seizure of tens or even hundreds of others, including Americans or foreign nationals in that region.”
(Uganda Wildlife Authority) The Queen Elizabeth National Park in Uganda.
Keith Endicott implored the U.S. government to save his cousin's life.
“I heard our Secretary of State get on there and say we don’t pay ransom. OK, fine,” Keith Endicott said. “Then get the Navy SEALS, get them on a plane and go save her. Don’t pay ransom, I’m good with that. But he didn’t say any of those things, and maybe they’re doing those things, but who knows.”
On Sunday, there were signs that the search for Endicott and Remezo had intensified in the western region of the 764-square-mile wildlife park bordering the Congo.
'I heard our secretary of state get on there and say we don't pay ransom. OK, fine. Then get the Navy SEALS, get them on a plane and go save her.'
An ABC News crew at the park saw Ugandan military aircraft and at least six military helicopters land at a nearby airport, and soldiers in military vehicles speeding in and out of a park entrance.
"We are prepared for it and I think we will be able to resolve it," Abbas Byakagaba, assistant inspector general of the Ugandan Police, told ABC News, before the release of the abducted victims was announced.
Ephraiam Kamuntu, the Ugandan minister of tourism, went to the park this weekend hoping to reassure the families of Endicott and Remezo that the Uganda government was doing everything it could to find their loved ones.
"If I had lost hope, I wouldn't be here," Kamuntu told ABC News before Endicott and Remezo were found. "My hope and my firm belief, my desire and my effort is to restore these people both safe and sound."
Endicott and Remezo were out on an evening safari expedition with a Canadian couple, Martin and Barbel Jurrius, both 78, when they were accosted on Tuesday between 6 and 7 p.m. by four gunmen, according to a Ugandan police statement.
"The unknown gunmen put the tourists on gunpoint, and grabbed two out of the four tourists, before disappearing with them," the statement reads.
Once released, Martin and Barbel Jurrius were able to get in contact with a camp manager, who found them safe, police said.
The kidnappers used Endicott's cell phone to contact authorities and demand a $500,000 random.
"We strongly believe this ransom is the reason behind the kidnap," the police statement read.
Police said the tourists were in a World Frontiers Safaris Uganda vehicle that was also taken by the kidnappers and found abandoned in the park with the keys missing.
Endicott -- whom Ugandan authorities have identified as 35 years old, but whose cousin says is in her late 50s -- had gone to Uganda for a safari vacation.
“I know she was planning this trip for a while, because it’s something that she’s always wanted to do,” Pam Lopez, a friend of Endicott, told the Los Angeles Times. “This was always a big trip she wanted to take.”
A Uganda Wildlife Authority spokesperson, Bashir Hangi, told ABC News that the kidnapping was unprecedented.
"This is a one-off incident, it’s an isolated incident. It is not something that happens regularly. It is not something that we are known for," Hangi said. "It’s very unfortunate, it is regrettable but it happened."
"Our parks are very safe right now. Tourists are in the parks as I speak. Tourist activities are going on despite the incident. Because we have security in our parks, we maintain national parks and they are all very safe. That’s why you have not had such an incident before, and now that it has happened it has also opened our eyes to do some soul searching and see how can we best improve on the security of our people," he said.
The last similar incident involving tourists was in 1999, and involved rebels from the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Hangi said, adding that about 1.4 million tourists now visit Uganda each year.
A U.S. official familiar with the details of U.S. hostage recovery efforts in Uganda told ABC News that Ugandan police have a good handle on the situation, with U.S. officials only providing support at this point.
ABC News' Jim Vojtech, James Meek and Soo Youn contributed to this report.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrives for a weekly cabinet meeting at the Prime Minister's office in Jerusalem, Sunday, April 29, 2018. (AP Photo/Sebastian Scheiner)
(AP Photo/Sebastian Scheiner)
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed on Saturday that he would extend Israeli sovereignty over parts of the West Bank if re-elected.
Israelis head to the polls on Tuesday and in the final stretch of the tight race, Netanyahu is competing for votes with right-wing parties who support annexing part of the West Bank.
Appearing on Israel’s Channel 12 news Saturday, just three days before Israelis vote on whether Netanyahu would get a fifth term, the prime minister said he was contemplating moves that would put a stop to decades of Israel’s policy recognizing that the lands it seized in the 1967 war would be part of a negotiated settlement with the Palestinians. What happens to the land is one of the most contentious issues between Israelis and Palestinians, who argue that the presence of settlements would make a future independent state impossible.
On Saturday, Netanyahu pledged that he would not dismantle a single Jewish settlement and that Israel would retain control of the territory west of the Jordan River, known as the West Bank. More than 600,000 Israelis currently live on the war-won lands, the majority live in the West Bank.
Netanyahu has promoted Jewish settlement expansion in his four terms as prime minister, but until now, withheld from presenting a detailed vision for the West Bank.
When Netanyahu was asked why he didn’t annex some of the larger settlements during his current term he answered, “The question you are asking is an interesting question, whether we will move to the next stage and the answer is yes.”
Netanyahu added that the next term in office would be “fateful,” according to The Times of Israel.
“We will move to the next stage, the imposing of Israeli sovereignty,” said Netanyahu.
“I will impose sovereignty, but I will not distinguish between settlement blocs and isolated settlements,” he said during Saturday’s interview. “From my perspective, any point of settlement is Israeli, and we have responsibility, as the Israeli government. I will not uproot anyone, and I will not transfer sovereignty to the Palestinians.”
During the interview, Netanyahu depicted the U.S. policy shifts on Jerusalem and the Golan Heights as his achievements, saying that he had managed to persuade President Trump to take these steps.
Most of the international community have long favored a so-called two-state solution. However, U.S. mediation between Israelis and Palestinians stalled after Trump recognized Jerusalem as Israel's capital early in his term. As a result, the Palestinians, who seek Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem as their capital, stopped contact with the U.S.
Last month, Trump also recognized Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights, an area Israel captured from Syria in 1967.
The U.S. State Department declined to comment on Netanyahu's statement.
According to The Times of Israel, Netanyahu’s pledge Saturday came a day after he said on Israel’s Channel 13 news that he told President Trump that he would not evacuate “a single person” from any of the settlements. The news comes amid reports that Netanyahu thinks Trump will back him on settlement annexation if the Palestinians reject the much-anticipated Israeli-Palestinian peace plan.
In response to Netanyahu’s statements, David Ha’ivri, a Jewish resident of Samaria, which is in the West Bank, told Fox News, “In my opinion, these statements were long overdue. Israel liberated these areas from Jordan 52 years ago in the 1967 Six Day War. Since then the residents of this region have lived in a state of political limbo, not knowing what the near future will bring and under which flag we would live.”
In a statement, Saeb Erekat, a veteran Palestinian negotiator, said, “Israel will continue to brazenly violate international law for as long as the international community will continue to reward Israel with impunity, particularly with the Trump administration’s support and endorsement of Israel’s violation of the national and human rights of the people of Palestine.”
In its final days, Israel’s prime minister race appears too close to call, as Netanyahu faces a strong challenge from a popular former army chief, Benny Gantz.
The incident happened after the man entered the park Monday with four others to target rhinos, according to a parks service statement.
An elephant "suddenly" attacked the alleged poacher, killing him, and "his accomplices claimed to have carried his body to the road so that passersby could find it in the morning. They then vanished from the Park," police said.
His family were notified of his death late Tuesday by his fellow poachers, and a search party set out to recover the body. Rangers scoured on foot and police flew over the area, but because of failing light it could not be found.
The search resumed Thursday morning and, with the help of added field rangers, police discovered what was left of his body.
"Indications found at the scene suggested that a pride of lions had devoured the remains leaving only a human skull and a pair of pants," the statement said.
Glenn Phillips, the managing executive of Kruger National Park, extended his condolences to the man's family.
"Entering Kruger National Park illegally and on foot is not wise, it holds many dangers and this incident is evidence of that," he warned. "It is very sad to see the daughters of the deceased mourning the loss of their father, and worse still, only being able to recover very little of his remains."
Three individuals who joined the illegal hunt were arrested Wednesday by the South African Police Service, and officers continue to investigate what happened.
The suspects appeared in Komatipoort Magistrate Court on Friday to face charges of possessing firearms and ammunition without a license, conspiracy to poach and trespassing. A judge remanded them to custody and they will be back in court this week, pending a formal bail application.
The African rhino is targeted for its horn because of the belief among some who practice Eastern medicine that the horn has benefits as an aphrodisiac, making it more valuable than cocaine in parts of the world.
Of special concern is the black rhino, which is considered critically endangered after its population tumbled from about 65,000 to 1970 to 2,400 in 1995, according to Kruger National Park. Conservation efforts have boosted their numbers, and the world's remaining 5,000 or so black rhinos live predominantly in South Africa, Namibia, Kenya and Zimbabwe.
In 2016, there were between 349 and 465 black rhinos living at Kruger and between 6,600 and 7,800 white rhinos, who also suffer from poaching, South Africa's Department of Environmental Affairs said.
Kruger is considered an intensive protection zone, and the government employs a range of resources to deter poaching, including aircraft, dogs, special rangers and an environmental crime investigation unit.
Of the 680 poaching and trafficking arrests made in 2016 by the South African Police Service, 417 were in and around Kruger, the department said. In September, the department announced that six men -- including two syndicate leaders, two police officers and a former police officer -- had been arrested for trafficking in rhino horns.
People walk by election campaign billboards showing Israeli Prime Minister and head of the Likud party Benjamin Netanyahu (left) alongside the Blue and White party leaders, including Benny Gantz. Ahead of Tuesday's election, Netanyahu has pledged to annex Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank.
Oded Balilty/AP
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Oded Balilty/AP
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said that he will annex Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank if he is re-elected.
Netanyahu staked out the position on television on Saturday, ahead of Tuesday's election where he faces a challenge from his former army chief of staff Benny Gantz
The first-time move from the prime minister appears to be aimed at galvanizing support among his nationalist base and right-wing political allies. The annexation of parts of the West Bank would likely be considered the final blow to the possibility of a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Netanyahu was asked on Israeli Channel 12 TV why he hasn't annexed Israeli settlement blocs in occupied territory, as NPR's Daniel Estrin reports from Jerusalem.
The prime minister replied: "Will we go to the next phase? The answer is yes. We will go to the next phase to extend Israeli sovereignty."
"I will impose sovereignty, but I will not distinguish between settlement blocs and isolated settlements," he continued, The Associated Press reports. "From my perspective, any point of settlement is Israeli, and we have responsibility, as the Israeli government. I will not uproot anyone, and I will not transfer sovereignty to the Palestinians."
On Sunday, Palestinian Foreign Minister Riad Malki responded to that pledge and accused the U.S. of encouraging Netanyahu.
"If Netanyahu wants to declare Israeli sovereignty over the West Bank, then you know he has to face a real problem, the presence of 4.5 million Palestinians, what to do with them," Malki told the AP while attending the World Economic forum in Jordan, apparently citing the combined total of Palestinians living in the occupied West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip.
He said Israel cannot expel the Palestinians, adding, "The international community has to deal with us."
Netanyahu has actively supported the growth of Israeli settlements in the West Bank, which Israel has occupied since the Six-Day War in 1967. But Israel has so far stopped short of formally annexing the West Bank, leaving the door open for further negotiations with Palestinians.
The Israeli settlements – which include large subdivisions and cities full of middle-class villas – have long complicated efforts for a two-state solution: Palestinians have said the settlements would make it impossible to create a viable state in the West Bank, as NPR's Greg Myre has reported.
Another 200,000 Israelis live in East Jerusalem, part of the West Bank that Israel annexed shortly after the 1967 war.
Saeb Erekat, chief negotiator for the Palestine Liberation Organization, criticized Netanyahu's statement on Saturday.
"Such a statement by Netanyahu is not surprising," Erekat wrote on Twitter. "Israel will continue to brazenly violate international law for as long as the international community will continue to reward Israel with impunity, particularly with the Trump Administration's support and endorsement of Israel's violation of the national and human rights of the people of Palestine."
Netanyahu's political campaign has emphasized his close ties with President Trump, Estrin reports. In his prime time interview on Saturday, Netanyahu portrayed those moves of support from the Trump administration as his own achievements, the AP reports.
Last month, Trump recognized Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights, which Israel seized from Syria in 1967. In his first year in office, Trump had also recognized Jerusalem — the disputed city claimed as capital by both Israeli and Palestinian people — as Israel's capital, breaking with decades of U.S. foreign policy.
Polls indicate a close race, though Netanyahu's Likud Party and its traditional allies, smaller right-wing parties, are predicted to win a slight majority of the votes. That gives Netanyahu the edge on forming a ruling coalition over Gantz's Blue and White political alliance – unless some right-wing parties choose to side with Gantz, Estrin reports.
CAIRO — American forces currently operating inside Libya have relocated temporarily outside the war-riven country due to growing unrest in the Libyan capital, the U.S. military’s top commander for Africa said Sunday.
“The security realities on the ground in Libya are growing increasingly complex and unpredictable,” Marine Corps Gen. Thomas Waldhauser, head of U.S. Africa Command, said in a statement Sunday.
The contingent of U.S. forces present in Libya provides military support for counterterrorism activities and diplomatic missions and works to improve security in the region, the statement said. Waldhauser did not discuss where the U.S. forces have been relocated.
The announcement comes as the U.N.-backed government in Tripoli vowed to defend the capital against a renegade militia seeking to storm its way into the city, a showdown that threatened to spill into bloody urban combat in the streets of Tripoli.
On Saturday, fighters loyal to warlord Khalifa Hifter said they had overrun the airport, on the southern edge of the city. But forces for the U.N.-backed government mounted a counterattack — aided by reinforcements flowing into the city — and it was unclear which side held the airfield by nightfall.
The airport has been closed since it suffered widespread damage during battles between rival groups in 2014. But it would be a symbolic blow to the government if the site fell to Hifter, who could use it as a key staging ground for further advances.
Libya has been torn by violence and political instability since long-time ruler Muammar Gaddafi was deposed and killed in 2011.
What's the situation on the ground?
Gen Haftar's Libyan National Army (LNA) forces have been carrying out a multi-pronged attack from the south and west of the city since Thursday.
On Sunday the LNA said it had carried out its first air strike, a day after the UN-backed Government of National Accord (GNA) hit them with air strikes on Saturday.
Fighting has continued around the disused international airport south of the capital that Gen Haftar earlier said his forces had seized.
Forces loyal to the GNA have slowed the advance and on Sunday a GNA spokesman told Al-Jazeera TV that the GNA now intended to "cleanse" the whole of the country.
There were reports of a fast amphibious craft being used in the operation.
India's External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj said its full contingent of 15 Central Reserve Police Force peacekeepers had been evacuated from Tripoli because the "situation in Libya has suddenly worsened".
The Italian multinational oil and gas company, Eni, decided to evacuate all its Italian personnel from the country.
The UN is also due to pull out non-essential staff.
Residents of Tripoli have reportedly begun stocking up on food and fuel. But BBC Arab affairs editor Sebastian Usher says many of those near the fighting are remaining in their homes for now, for fear of looting should they leave.
Some fear a long operation, which Gen Haftar mounted to take the eastern city of Benghazi from Islamist fighters.
Who are the opposing forces?
Libya has been wracked by unrest since the overthrow of Col Gaddafi. Dozens of militias operate in the country.
Recently they have been allying either with the UN-backed GNA, based in Tripoli, or the LNA of Gen Haftar, a tough anti-Islamist who has the support of Egypt and the UAE and is strong in eastern Libya.
Gen Haftar helped Col Gaddafi seize power in 1969 before falling out with him and going into exile in the US. He returned in 2011 after the uprising against Gaddafi began and became a rebel commander.
The unity government was created at talks in 2015 but has struggled to assert national control.
Prime Minister Fayez al-Serraj delivered a TV address on Saturday, saying he would defend the capital.
Mr Serraj said he had offered concessions to Gen Haftar to avoid bloodshed, only to be "stabbed in the back".
Back to square one?
Analysis by Rana Jawad, BBC North Africa correspondent, in Tunis
The rogue general's defiance suggests that, despite international condemnation of his recent moves, he believes he can only secure a place in Libya's future political makeup through militarily means.
Diplomats are worried, because the manner and timing of the attack means he is unlikely to back down unless he is defeated.
Few thought he would go ahead and launch this operation - which he has long threatened to do - because they believed ongoing talks that saw him go from Paris to Palermo and the UAE for more than a year would buy time until a new political settlement was reached through negotiations and an eventual electoral process.
Today, Western nations have few cards to play to de-escalate the violence and once again find themselves in a position where they may need to start from scratch.
Are peace talks planned?
UN-backed talks aimed at drawing up a road map for new elections have been scheduled for 14-16 April in the Libyan city of Ghadames.
UN envoy Ghassan Salame insisted the talks would go ahead, unless serious obstacles prevented it, saying "we won't give up this political work quickly".
UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres was in Tripoli just last Thursday to discuss the situation.
But Gen Haftar has said his troops will not stop until they have defeated "terrorism".
