Olivier Dubois still hostage: should we change strategy?

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In “The Ransom of Terror”, Étienne Dignat proposes to “govern the hostage market” by getting out of the dichotomy “to pay or not to pay”.

Interview by Guerric Poncet

Ihe journalist Olivier Dubois, who works in particular for Release And Point, was captured in Mali on April 8, 2021. In March 2023, Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) confirmed holding the reporter. Nearly two years after his abduction, it is clear that the negotiations are stalling and that the mobilization of public opinion has nothing to compare with those of the 1980s or 2000s for other hostages. Should we change our approach?

In The Ransom of Terror*, Sciences Po researcher Étienne Dignat proposes to “govern the hostage market” by getting out of the “to pay or not to pay” dichotomy, to prefer another question: “Who pays, and how? » Thanks to around a hundred interviews carried out in seven countries with managers or ex-sen…