When Fr Pier Luigi Maccalli, now 59, was kidnapped two years ago by unknown armed men from his parish of Bamoanga, it left the communities he had served for 11 years in shock. Now he is understood to have been freed in northern Mali with four other hostages also held by Islamist extremists. The new Malian transitional government met the hostages. Their release, and that of some suspected militants, fuelled expectations of an imminent prisoner swap. It is not clear if ransoms were paid.