A sign of life that relieves. In a video posted on social networks on Sunday March 13, French journalist Olivier Dubois, hostage for more than a year by a jihadist group in Mali, speaks for the first time in several months, facing the camera.
→ MAINTENANCE. The family of the hostage in Mali Olivier Dubois between anguish and resilience
The 47-year-old freelance journalist had worked and lived in Mali since 2015. He himself announced his abduction in a video posted on social networks on May 5, 2021. He explained there that he had been kidnapped on April 8 in Gao (north) by the Support Group for Islam and Muslims (GSIM, or JNIM in Arabic), the main jihadist movement in the Sahel, linked to Al-Qaida and led by the Malian Tuareg leader Iyad Ag Ghaly.
“I continue to have hope”
In this new video, he appears to be in good health. He speaks to his family, in particular to his parents and his companion, from whom he says he receives radio messages. “They are a breath of fresh air and hope,” he explains.
He also addresses the French government, which he asks to “keep doing your best” for his release. “I am aware that my case is a small thing in the face of the challenges and events it must face, but yesterday like today, I continue to remain hopeful”, he says. The provenance of this approximately one-minute video, however, remains unauthenticated. The date and location where it was filmed also remain unknown.
Olivier Dubois is the only French hostage in the world since the release in October 2020 of Sophie Pétronin, who had been kidnapped in Mali. He covered the turmoil through the Sahelian country for various media, including the French magazine Africa Point and the daily Release.
→ ANALYSIS. How the release of Sophie Pétronin in Mali became possible
French President Emmanuel Macron assured in January that France did not forget Olivier Dubois. “A tireless work is carried out by our diplomatic teams, our military and the competent services” to secure his release, he said.