PARIS, France
A French journalist who was
held hostage by Islamic extremists for nearly two years in Mali was welcomed
home by French President Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday, one day after his release.
Olivier Dubois was kidnapped
in April 2021 in northern Mali, a region wracked by jihadi violence linked to
al-Qaida and the Islamic State group.
Leaving the plane at the
Villacoublay military airport, southwest of Paris, with a big smile on his
face, Dubois was applauded by the group of people waiting for his arrival. He
was greeted with great joy by his sister and father, and then he hugged Macron.
Speaking to French media,
Dubois said he listened to French radio to keep himself sane in captivity and
read the Quran “to understand” his captors. Dubois told RFI radio Tuesday that
although he was not “hit or humiliated,” it was a grueling experience.
“You are chained, you are a
prisoner, you are considered a disbeliever, an infidel,” he said. “It was
living outside all the time — whether there’s a sandstorm, the sun, the cold or
the rain ... It’s washing and defecating outside. It’s living outside all the
time.”
The conditions of Dubois’
release, including whether it involved a ransom, have not been disclosed.
Reporters Without Borders,
also known by its French acronym RSF, thanked French authorities on Monday for
“having implemented the necessary means to obtain his release,” without
elaborating.
Dubois’ release took place on
the same day that an American
aid worker was freed in Mali.
Jihadi groups have been
abducting hostages for ransom as a way to fund their operations and expand
their presence. At least 25 foreigners and untold numbers of locals have been
kidnapped in the Sahel — the vast, semi-arid expanse below the Sahara Desert —
since 2015, according to the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project.
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