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Kidnapped in Mali almost 2 years ago, Olivier Dubois has been released. The journalist was the last French hostage listed in the world since the release in October 2020 of Sophie Pétronin.
French journalist Olivier Dubois was released following nearly two years of captivity: he had been kidnapped in Mali on April 8, 2021 in the Gao region (North) by the Support Group for Islam and Muslims (Jnim), subsidiary in the Sahel of Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM).
He arrived free on Monday March 20 at Niamey airport. When he got off the plane, Olivier Dubois appeared smiling and visibly moved, dressed in an open white shirt and beige pants.
Release of Olivier Dubois today in Niamey. We are at the airport where Olivier has just arrived. Free!! End of a 711 day ordeal. Huge joy and huge relief pic.twitter.com/ilj9m4n9GW
— Amaury Hauchard (@amhauchard) March 20, 2023
The journalist himself announced his abduction in a video posted on social networks on May 5, 2021. “He was going to Gao to interview a jihadist leader. We know today that he was trapped by thugs who ‘then handed over to the Jnim,” said Wassim Nasr, specialist in jihadism issues at France 24.
French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna said on December 10, 2022, during a trip to Côte d’Ivoire, that France was doing “everything possible to allow the release” of the French journalist.
Olivier Dubois worked in particular for Liberation, Le Point and Jeune Afrique, he remained in captivity for almost two years. He was the only French hostage not held by a state in the world since the release in October 2020 of Sophie Pétronin, also kidnapped in Mali.
>> See also on France 24 : Déborah Al Hawi Al Masri, companion of Olivier Dubois, hostage in Mali: “I do not lose hope”
️????OLIVIER DUBOIS FINALLY FREE!
We welcome the release of our colleague who was in the hands of an armed Islamist group in #Mali for nearly two years. He is the French journalist who has been held hostage for the longest time since the war in Lebanon. 1/3 pic.twitter.com/jbWVrqE1A3— RSF (@RSF_inter) March 20, 2023
American hostage Jeffery Woodke also freed
The American humanitarian Jeffery Woodke, kidnapped in October 2016 in Niger, also arrived free Monday at Niamey airport, alongside Olivier Dubois.
A Christian humanitarian who came to the aid of nomadic populations with an NGO in Abalak in Niger, Jeffery Woodke was kidnapped on October 14, 2016 by jihadist groups and taken to Mali according to Nigerien security sources.
