He had been kidnapped in Mali on April 8, 2021. French journalist Olivier Dubois, hostage in the Sahel since 2021, was released. He arrived free on Monday at Niamey airport, nearly two years after being kidnapped by the Support Group for Islam and Muslims (GSIM), in Mali, noted an AFP journalist.
“I feel tired but I’m fine,” he said when he got off the plane, smiling and visibly moved, wearing a white shirt open over a T-shirt and beige pants. “It’s huge for me to be here, to be free, I wanted to pay tribute to Niger for its know-how in this delicate mission and to pay tribute to France and to all those who allowed me to be here today,” he added in front of several journalists.
“Immense relief”
American humanitarian Jeffery Woodke, kidnapped in October 2016 in Niger, has also been released. Leaning on a cane, white hair, he appeared alongside Olivier Dubois. “The hostages were recovered safe and sound by the Nigerien authorities before being handed over to the French and American authorities,” said Nigerien Interior Minister Hamadou Souley on Monday at the airport.
Olivier Dubois, a 48-year-old freelance journalist, was kidnapped on April 8, 2021 in Gao, in northern Mali, by GSIM, the main jihadist alliance in the Sahel, linked to Al-Qaeda. He collaborated with Release, Point And Young Africa, had been living and working in Mali since 2015 when he was kidnapped. He had himself announced his abduction in a video posted on social networks on May 5, 2021.
This release is a “huge relief” after “the longest [captivité] for a French journalist held hostage since the war in Lebanon,” said Reporters Without Borders.