French journalist Olivier Dubois, hostage for nearly two years in Mali, has been released

Olivier Dubois is free. Sonly French hostage in the world (not held by a State) since the release in October 2020 of Sophie Pétronin, also kidnapped in Mali, the journalist has been released and is safe in Niamey, the capital of Niger, learned France Télévisions Monday March 20. “It’s huge for me to be free, I didn’t expect it at all. I would like to pay tribute to Niger and its know-how [en matière de] delicate missions, to France and to all those who have allowed me to be here today”did he declare. “I need to come to my senses. I feel tired, but I’m fine.”

Collaborator in particular of Release, Point And Young Africahe himself had confirmed his abduction in a video posted on social networks on May 5, 2021. He explained there that he had been kidnapped on April 8, 2021 in Gao, in northern Mali, by the Support Group for Islam and Muslims (GSIM), the main jihadist alliance in the Sahel, linked to Al-Qaeda.

In December 2020, Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna assured that the executive was doing “everything possible to allow [sa] release”. Reporters Without Borders shared its “tremendous relief” after this release, which came after 711 days in captivity.

“We had had reassuring news on several occasions in recent months, and again very recently: he seemed in good shape, but the length of his captivity worried us”, commented the secretary general of RSF, Christophe Deloire, interviewed by AFP. Another hostage, American Jeffrey Woodke, was also released.