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Kidnapping of Olivier Dubois in Mali: an internal investigation points to failures of the French army

2023-05-16T21:08:16.410Z

Highlights: The military allegedly used the journalist without his knowledge to try to locate a jihadist leader, according to an investigation by several French media. Olivier Dubois was kidnapped on April 8, 2021 in Gao, northern Mali, by the GSIM, the main jihadist alliance in the Sahel linked to Al-Qaeda. A "red letter" - for strongly discouraged - had been sent to Dubois the day before his abduction to dissuade him from making this trip. The newspaper Libération had for its part refused the interview project of Dubois.


The military allegedly used the journalist without his knowledge to try to locate a jihadist leader, according to an investigation by several media outlets.


The soldiers of the anti-jihadist operation in the Sahel Barkhane would have tried to use the French journalist Olivier Dubois without his knowledge to try to locate a jihadist leader, without preventing his kidnapping in Mali in 2021, says an investigation conducted by several French media.

The French Barkhane force was informed of the French journalist's plan to meet in northern Mali with a jihadist leader affiliated with Al-Qaeda, via a fixer serving as an informer for the armies. The military considered using this appointment to locate this emir before giving up because of the risks involved, according to Le Monde, which conducted the investigation with Libération, RFI and TV5Monde.

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Kidnapped in 2021

Released last March, Olivier Dubois was kidnapped on April 8, 2021 in Gao, northern Mali, by the GSIM, the main jihadist alliance in the Sahel linked to Al-Qaeda. He collaborated with the daily Libération and the magazine Le Point and lived in Mali since 2015.

According to French media that had access to French and Malian judicial documents relating to the case, the soldiers of Barkhane would have abandoned the operation in extremis, but would not have deployed the appropriate means to prevent the kidnapping of Olivier Dubois in Gao, where he was to meet Abdallah Ag Albakaye.

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Charged with investigating this case internally, the General Inspectorate of the Armed Forces (IGA) concluded at the end of 2021 that there had been "no personal fault within the Barkhane force" but that "the sensitivity of the subject was not taken into account at a sufficient level to conduct (...) a deterrent action against the journalist".

Contacted by AFP, the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs declined to comment "because of the judicial investigation" in progress. The General Staff declined to comment. Diplomatic sources, it is recalled that a "red letter" - for strongly discouraged - had been sent to Olivier Dubois the day before his abduction to dissuade him from making this trip. The newspaper Libération had for its part refused the interview project of Olivier Dubois because of the risks incurred.

Source: lefigaro

All news articles on 2023-05-16

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