Mali: two months of captivity for the opponent Soumaïla Cissé at the hands of the jihadists

Soumaïla Cissé surrounded by her supporters, on August 13, 2018, in Bamako. ISSOUF SANOGO / AFP

Text by: RFI Follow

On Saturday May 23, it has been 60 days since the Malian opposition leader Soumaïla Cissé was kidnapped by armed men near Timbuktu. Eleven others abducted at the same time as him, or shortly after his abduction, have all been released. Him, no. He is still in the hands of his captors, and the Malian government is tearing his hair out to secure his release.

Publicity

Read more

With our correspondent in Bamako, Serge Daniel

To encourage and support Soumaïla Cissé's family 60 days after his abduction , several people met his wife. Among the visitors, the representative of the UN mission in Bamako, Mahamat Saleh Annadif. For its part, the Malian government makes his release a state affair. According to our information, Soumaïla Cissé was able to receive at his place of detention the medicines he needed and which were conveyed from Bamako. A source close to the file, "  the claims of the kidnappers are known and under study  ."

Transferred to the North…

Two months after his abduction, the opposition leader is said to be alive. But if he was kidnapped in the Timbuktu region, the kidnappers probably managed to transfer him not to central Mali as we thought, but rather to the far north of the country, in the area where jihadists are present obey their leader Iyad Ag Ghaly .

Contact would be established. To further the release, the Malian head of state, who received Soumaïla Cissé's wife, recently sent two emissaries to Algeria. He also, according to our information, picked up his phone to call his French counterpart, Emmanuel Macron.

His absence really hurts in Mali

Moctar SY, spokesperson for the Collective for the release of Soumaila Cissé

Newsletter Receive all international news directly in your mailbox

I subscribe

Follow all international news by downloading the RFI application

google-play-badge_FR

  • Mali
  • Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta
  • Terrorism