Video. Olivier Dubois released: the first images of the French journalist, after two years of captivity in the Sahel

Almost two years to the day after his abduction, journalist Olivier Dubois, correspondent for Release, Point And Young Africa in Mali was released on Monday 20 March. He arrived at Niamey airport in Niger in the early afternoon alongside another hostage, American humanitarian Jeffery Woodke, held since 2016. “I feel tired but I’m fine”, said the French journalist. The President of the Republic, Emmanuel Macron, expressed his “huge relief”and testified to his “great gratitude to Niger for this release”.

Olivier Dubois, 48, was abducted on April 8, 2021 in Gao, northeastern Mali, while trying to interview Abdallah ag Albakaye, a local leader of the Support Group for Islam and Muslims ( affiliated with Al-Qaida). He appeared a month later in a video posted on social networks. After almost a year of silence, a second video was released in March 2022.

Olivier Dubois was the only French hostage in the world since the release, in October 2020, of Sophie Pétronin, also kidnapped in Mali.