"
We do not forget
" Olivier Dubois, the journalist hostage of a jihadist group in Mali since April 2021, and France "
is fully mobilized
" to obtain his release, assured Tuesday, January 11 Emmanuel Macron.
Read also Worried, Omar Sy warns about the fate of Olivier Dubois, the only French hostage in the world
"
Tireless work is carried out by our diplomatic teams, our soldiers and the competent services
," said the Head of State, presenting his best wishes to the press at the Elysee Palace. "
You know my great reserve
" to "
give more details
", "
but I want you to be sure that we are fully mobilized to work for his release
", he added, specifying that the State was “
Alongside his family
”.
At the start of the ceremony, the president of the Presidential Press Association (APP) Olivier Bost, journalist at RTL, spoke of Olivier Dubois, the “
only French hostage in the world
” since the release in October 2020 of Sophie Pétronin, also kidnapped in Mali.
The 47-year-old freelance journalist, living and working in Mali since 2015, announced his kidnapping in a video broadcast on May 5, 2021, explaining that he was kidnapped on April 8 in Gao, in the north, by the Support Group for Islam and Muslims (GSIM), the main jihadist alliance in the Sahel, linked to al-Qaida.
Read also Olivier Dubois: the hostage journalism family in Mali calls on France and Mali to "unite"
At the end of May, France confirmed that he was hostage to a jihadist group and the National Anti-Terrorism Prosecutor's Office (Pnat) opened a preliminary investigation for "
organized kidnapping
" and "
in connection with a terrorist enterprise
".
Olivier Dubois 'family denounced the authorities' silence on his fate in early January by launching a petition calling for his release.
“
We don't know anything.
This lack of information and this silence are unbearable, while Olivier is in an emergency situation
, ”she lamented.