Emotion, joy.
But also questions.
At 12:48, this Friday, October 9, the last French hostage in the world sets foot on the tarmac at the military airport of Vélizy-Villacoublay (Yvelines).
Sophie Pétronin has just stepped down from a medical Falcon from Bamako, Mali, with a long white scarf on her head.
His grandchildren welcome him.
The embrace is long.
Emmanuel Macron and his Minister of Foreign Affairs Jean-Yves Le Drian attend the scene.
Far from his jailers, the humanitarian can finally smile.
"I have always known that I will return, that I will not die (on the spot)," confided the founder of the NGO Aid Association in Gao before joining France.
The Head of State then guides this frail-looking 75-year-old woman to the honor lounge at the airport, who was kidnapped on December 24, 2016 in Gao in northern Mali.
His relatives have been waiting for this reunion for 1300 days.
Held by the Support Group for Islam and Muslims (GSIM), a jihadist alliance linked to Al-Qaida, Sophie Pétronin regains her freedom along with three other hostages: two Italians and Soumaïla Cissé.
Kidnapped in March while campaigning for the legislative elections, this politician is one of the main Malian opponents.
"We have asked everyone to be extremely discreet in recent days so that the release of Sophie Pétronin goes smoothly," says one at the Elysee.
VIDEO. Ex-hostage Sophie Pétronin sets foot on French soil
In front of the journalists gathered for the occasion, a microphone was installed.
But Emmanuel Macron changes his mind and returns to Paris without making a speech.
"The ex-hostage did not want to speak to journalists, so the president preferred to do the same," explains a collaborator.
And then, he did not want to break this moment of family emotion.
»Modesty or… prudence?
Because, at the same time, a controversy rages on the conditions of this release.
This weekend, several dozen jihadists were released by the new Malian power - some sources even mention the figure of two hundred fighters.
They likely served as bargaining chips for the four hostages.
"An entirely Malian operation" according to the Elysee
"We should never compromise with Islamism and allow the release of jihadists, at the risk of further exposing our already hard-hit armies," protested the president of RN Marine Le Pen on Twitter.
"The role of the President of the Republic is that there are no more French hostages", retorts at the Elysee, where it is sworn that it is an "operation entirely Malian ”.
Implied: France did not intervene in the negotiations.
VIDEO. Sophie Pétronin's release: the moving reunion with her son in Mali
The ex-hostage, she says about her captors that may seem ambiguous.
Before returning to France, she was questioned by several media, including RFI and TV5-Monde, on the "jihadists" who kidnapped her.
Sophie Pétronin strangely brushes aside the question.
“Call them whatever you want.
I would say that they are groups of armed opposition to the regime ”.
The humanitarian worker, who is also a convert to Islam, adds: "I am a Muslim, you call me Sophie, but it is Mariam that you have in front of you".
Then, she implores for Mali the "blessing and the mercy of Allah".
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"Big, big discomfort", loose on social networks the deputy close to the RN Thierry Mariani.
"Didn't she tip over?"
», Asks a government adviser.
Anxious to continue her action in favor of malnourished children, Sophie Pétronin has in any case already announced that she "will come back to see what is happening" in Gao, the large city in northern Mali.
Hearing it, his son Sébastien Chadaud-Pétronin slips him, half amused, half tense: “Expect me to frame certain things.
"