The journalist Olivier Dubois, the last French hostage in the world, is freed

Several journalists verified the long-awaited release of journalist Olivier Dubois, who arrived in Niamey, the capital of Niger, a neighboring country of Mali, where the reporter had been kidnapped on April 8, 2021.

It took 711 days from when Dubois was taken hostage in Gao, in northern Mali, by the Al Qaeda-linked Group in Support of Islam and Muslims (GSIM), until his arrival at the capital’s Diori Hamani international airport. nigerian.

“I feel tired but I’m fine. It’s huge for me to be here, to be free,” Olivier Dubois explained in his first words after getting off the plane in Niamey, smiling and visibly moved.

“I want to pay tribute to Niger for its know-how in this delicate mission and pay tribute to France and all those who have allowed me to be here today,” he remarked.

Through his Twitter account, French President Emmanuel Macron revealed that he spoke with Dubois and stressed that “he is in good health.” In turn, he considered that his release is an “immense relief for the nation, for his relatives and fellow journalists” and dedicated a “big thank you to Niger.”

At the time of his capture, Dubois was working as a correspondent in Mali for ‘Libération’, ‘Le Point’ and ‘Jeune Afrique’, and was scheduled to meet with a jihadist leader. The journalist himself announced his kidnapping in a video that appeared on social networks on May 5, 2021.

As reported by ‘Libération’, since then only two more proofs of Dubois’ life have been delivered. His captors published a second video on March 13, 2022, while a third, which remained secret, was received by the French authorities earlier this year, through a negotiation channel.

“Therefore, the negotiations appear to have been concluded, without the counterparties making themselves known, as is usual in this type of exchange,” revealed the French newspaper, adding that Dubois’ arrival on French soil is expected in hours of the night, at the Villacoublay airport.

Jeffrey Woodke, an American aid worker, is also released

Along with Dubois also came Jeffrey Woodke, an American humanitarian worker who was kidnapped in October 2016 in Niger by a jihadist group who took him to Mali.

The 61-year-old man had served as a missionary and aid worker in Niger for 32 years, according to a website of his followers. On his arrival in Niamey after more than six years in captivity, he was seen with white hair and leaning on a cane.

Woodke’s kidnapping occurred in October 2016 from his home in Abalak, in the Tahoua region, some 350 kilometers from Niamey. There, gunmen killed his guards and forced her into his truck at gunpoint. In it they took him to the border with Mali, in the north, and handed him over to a jihadist group.

A senior Joe Biden administration official described the move as the culmination of years of effort, but declined to say why he was released from captivity. However, he indicated that no ransom was paid or any concessions were made to the captors.

The Minister of the Interior of Niger, Hamadou Souley, was present at the airport and explained that both Dubois and Woodke “were picked up safe and sound” prior to “being handed over to the French and American authorities.”

From WashingtonUS National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said he was “gratified and relieved” by Woodke’s release. “America thanks Niger for helping bring him home to all who miss and love him,” he wrote, via Twitter.

Dubois, the last French hostage in the world

After the release in October 2020 of the French humanitarian worker Sophie Pétronin, also kidnapped in Mali in 2016, Olivier Dubois was considered the last French hostage in the world, that is, not held by a State.

His 711-day captivity was “the longest for a French journalist since the Lebanon war,” recalled the Reporters Without Borders (RSF) organization, which expressed its “tremendous relief” at his release.

“We had had reassuring news on several occasions in recent months, and again very recently: he seemed in good shape, but the length of his captivity worried us,” RSF secretary general Christophe Deloire added on Twitter.

For a long time – and especially since France’s military intervention in West Africa in 2013 – criminal and Islamist groups in the Sahel region have targeted the kidnapping of French civilians, partly because of the perception that the French government is willing to pay ransoms to achieve their release. Paris has repeatedly denied this practice.

With AFP, AP and Reuters