French journalist Dubois returns home after imprisonment in Mali

Natalie Portman
By Natalie Portman 2 Min Read
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PARIS (RockedBuzz via Reuters) – French journalist Olivier Dubois arrived home on Tuesday to be warmly welcomed by family members and President Emmanuel Macron, ending nearly two years of captivity in Mali.

Dubois, who disappeared in the northern Mali town of Gao in April 2021, was released on Monday and taken to Niger with US aid worker Jeffery Woodke, who was also freed after being held for six years.

Dubois, who appeared in a video last August in which he urged authorities to do everything possible to free him from the Islamist militants who were holding him, arrived on a French presidential jet on the outskirts of the French capital on Tuesday.

“It’s huge for me to be here today,” he told Niamey Dubois on Monday, smiling as he answered questions from reporters. “I wasn’t expecting it at all. I feel tired but I’m fine.”

Dubois was the last French citizen held by militants in the Sahel region. French officials have not commented on the terms of his release, but thanked Niger for its role in securing his release.

Kidnappings are a relatively common tactic by Islamist insurgents linked to al Qaeda and the Islamic State, who have gained traction in the Sahel region over the past decade, killing thousands and uprooting more than two million.

These groups have repeatedly stated that French nationals in West Africa were targets since a military intervention by France in 2013 had pushed them back a year earlier.

This is partly due to the perception that the French government is willing to pay a ransom to secure their release. France has repeatedly denied this.

A senior US official told reporters on Monday there were no direct negotiations with the militant organization that held Woodke, and no ransom or so-called quid pro quo was part of his release.

(Reporting by John Irish, editing by William Maclean)

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