Olivier Dubois is the only French hostage in the world since the release in October 2020 of Sophie Pétronin, who had also been kidnapped in Mali.
France “does not forget” Olivier Dubois, journalist hostage to a jihadist group in Mali since April 2021, and “is fully mobilized” to obtain his release, assured President Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday.
In early January, his family denounced the authorities’ silence on his fate by launching a petition demanding his release. “We don’t know anything. This lack of information and this silence are unbearable, while Olivier is in an emergency situation,” she lamented.
“We are fully mobilized to work for his release,” said Mr. Macron, presenting his wishes to the press at the presidential palace of the Elysee Palace in Paris. “Tireless work is carried out by our diplomatic teams, our military and the competent services”, he added, assuring that the State was “alongside his family”.
Kidnapped on April 8, 2021
Olivier Dubois, a 47-year-old freelance journalist, living and working in Mali since 2015, announced his kidnapping in a video broadcast on May 5, 2021, explaining that he was kidnapped on April 8 in Gao, in the north, by the Support Group for Islam and Muslims (GSIM), the main jihadist alliance in the Sahel, linked to Al-Qaeda.
At the end of May, France confirmed that it was hostage to a jihadist group and the National Anti-Terrorism Prosecutor’s Office (Pnat) opened a preliminary investigation for “organized kidnapping” and “in connection with a terrorist enterprise”.
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