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Olivier Dubois, a French journalist who was abducted in Mali’s Gao region (north) on April 8, 2021 by the al Qaeda-linked Group to Support Islam and Muslims (GSIM), was released on Monday and taken to neighbouring Niger. Dubois’s release came as US hostage Jeff Woodke was freed after more than six years in captivity in Africa.
Following his release from captivity, Dubois arrived at Niamey airport in neighbouring Niger on Monday afternoon. A photograph taken at the airport showed him smiling and wearing a white shirt and beige trousers.
Libération d’Olivier Dubois ce jour à Niamey. Sommes à l’aéroport où Olivier vient d’arriver. Libre!! Fin d’un calvaire de 711 jours. Joie immense et soulagement énorme pic.twitter.com/ilj9m4n9GW
— Amaury Hauchard (@amhauchard) March 20, 2023
The journalist announced his kidnapping in a video that appeared on social media on May 5, 2021. “He was on his way to Gao to interview a jihadist leader. We now know he was captured by thugs who then handed him over to GSIM,” FRANCE 24’s jihadist expert Wassim Nasr said.
During a trip to Ivory Coast on December 10, 2022, French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna said France was doing “everything possible” to free the journalist.
Dubois worked for various French news outlets, including Libération, Le Point and Jeune Afrique, when he was kidnapped. He was held for almost two years. Up until his release, he was the only French hostage still in captivity since the October 2020 release of Sophie Pétronin, a charity worker who was kidnapped in Mali in 2016.
US hostage kidnapped in Niger released
Dubois’s release came as US hostage Jeff Woodke was released after more than six years in captivity in Africa, White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said on Monday.
“I’m gratified & relieved to see the release of US hostage Jeff Woodke after over 6 years in captivity,” Sullivan said on Twitter. Sullivan thanked Niger “for its help in bringing him home”.
Woodke’s release came after years of efforts, a senior US official told the Associated Press. The official said no ransom was paid and no concession was made to captors.
(FRANCE 24 with AFP and AP)
