BREAKBREAK,
Olivier Dubois has been held by armed groups since he went missing in the Sahel in 2021.
French journalist Olivier Dubois, who was kidnapped by armed groups in the Sahel nearly two years ago, was released on Monday, according to an AFP journalist and a representative of the Liberation newspaper where he worked.
Dubois, who went missing in Mali in 2021, arrived by plane at Niamey airport in neighboring Niger on Monday. He came out tired but smiling.
He was the first French national to be held hostage by rebels in Mali since French aid worker Sophie Petronin was released in October 2020. She was kidnapped near Gao in Mali in late 2016.
Dozens of rebel fighters were released in 2020 in a prisoner exchange deal that freed Petronin, a high-ranking Malian politician, and two Italians.
Dubois worked for Liberation magazine and Le Point, both French-based publications.
He had appeared in a video in early May 2022 and appealed to the authorities to do everything possible to free him from the armed groups that held him.
“We are extremely relieved and happy with this outcome,” said Liberation director Dov Alfon.
More details to follow…
