A "proof of life" of the humanitarian Sophie Pétronin, kidnapped in Mali in December 2016, is revealed according to his relatives. But his health would be degraded.
"This is the first time that the Quai d'Orsay has informed us of the existence of proof of Sophie's life in such an official manner", testified with AFP, Sophie Pétronin's nephew, Lionel Granouillac.
The French state would thus haveproof of life "reliable" and recent by Sophie Pétronin. French aid workers were kidnapped in Mali on December 24, 2016, and have since been held hostage by the Group for the Support of Islam and Muslims (GSIM). She ran a small Franco-Swiss NGO helping children suffering from malnutrition.
His son Sébastien Chadaud-Pétronin was summoned by the French authorities via the Quai d´Orsay crisis cell last week "to tell him important news. "
"The wait remains the same: Let’s free Sophie! She’s sick, but we know from our information that she is receiving treatment", said Lionel Granouillac, his nephew.
For its part, the French Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs has not confirmed the information.
"The Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs and all the services concerned remain fully mobilized to secure the release of Ms. Sophie Pétronin and support her family"The ministry spokeswoman reported on Wednesday.
Four months ago, the humanitarian’s husband, Jean-Pierre Pétronin, deplored the silence surrounding the fate of his wife, a medical practitioner in his seventies, saying he had the feeling that she had been "forgotten ".
"We do not know if she is alive. We haven't had any news at all for a year. "
Sophie Pétronin's last sign of life dates back to mid-June 2018, in a video. She seemed very tired there, her face emaciated, and appealed to Emmanuel Macron. In another video in November 2018, where she did not appear, her captors claimed that her health had deteriorated
Who is Sophie Pétronin?
The kidnapped has been for almost twenty years at the head of the Association for Aid to Gao (AAG), in Mali, which comes to the aid of orphans who cannot be taken in by family members as well as the destitute, and malnourished children.
"She had a click to help these populations by going there with a friend in 1996. She returned there three or four times, before deciding to settle there, definitively in 2001 ", specifies Sébastien Pétronin.
A laboratory assistant at the start, she undertook medical training and specialized in malnutrition and tropical medicine.
Over the years, Sophie has learned to communicate with her different Malian contacts. Well established in the region, she adopted a daughter.
In his book, "The thread of light "(2013), she described what animated her:
"What I'm going to do in your ocean of misery is not much, but a saved life is a living life. Children are innocent, they have the right to grow and build themselves to become men and women capable of integrating into a society that is not easy to live with. "
When his paradise becomes hell
In 2012, instability in the country was felt. For the first time, Sophie Pétronin escapes the jihadists. Rebels of the National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (MNLA), assisted by the Islamist groups AQIM and Ansar Dine, take advantage of the coup d'état by Captain Amadou Sanogo against President Amadou Toumani Touré to tumble in Kidal, Timbuktu and Gao.
She also managed to flee on April 5, 2012, when the black flag of the Salafists flew over Gao. The humanitarian then took refuge in the Algerian consulate, under the protection of the consul, and assisted in the kidnapping of Algerian diplomats by Salafists from Ansar Dine. Led by MNLA members across the desert to the Algerian border, it was flown to Algiers for delivery to the French Embassy.
Following these events, she spent a few weeks in France, in the Ardèche, with her family, but the call from Mali and its mission were stronger. On the website of her association, Sophie Pétronin lucide wrote: "The risk of bombing and kidnapping targeting Westerners is still very high throughout Mali. We have to be extra careful. "