Six months after her kidnapping, Soumaïla Cissé regains her freedom

The leader of the Malian opposition, Soumaïla Cissé during a march in September 2018 in Bamako.

MICHELE CATTANI / AFP

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The president of the URD and leader of the Malian opposition, Soumaïla Cissé was released this Thursday, October 8, 2020. He has been in captivity since his kidnapping on March 25 in northern Mali, while he was in prison. campaign for legislative elections.

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He was in the middle of an electoral campaign, near Niafunké, in the region of Timbuktu, his stronghold.

Four days before the legislative elections, Soumaïla Cissé and her delegation, around ten people, left Saraféré for Koumaïra but they never made it.

, shoot ... Soumaïla Cissé's bodyguard is killed.

Soumaïla Cissé

and the rest of her delegation are separated.

Freed, them, gradually - perhaps because they were of less value or because they were too numerous -, Soumaïla Cissé's companions testify: other Malian civilian hostages are being held in the same camp, but no contact has been made. 'is allowed.

No mistreatment, water, food, and a daily life punctuated by prayers.

The attack has not been claimed, but people released explain that their jailers claimed to be al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb. 

Another witness said that Soumaïla Cissé would be regularly tied to a tree and that he would have difficulty walking.

His release, a political issue

The months go by.

The release of the Malian opposition leader was a national cause, it is becoming a political issue.

.

The appeals are directed at his captors, or even against the now deposed President Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta: rumors questioning the responsibility of the Malian state are even starting to circulate.

However, from the first days, the government set up a crisis unit, headed by former Prime Minister Ousmane Issoufi Maiga.

There is also that of the URD, Soumaïla Cissé's party, and many individual initiatives, such as that of Imam Mahmoud Dicko: discussions with the kidnappers or with intermediaries have started.

In mid-June, President IBK assures us that Soumaïla Cissé is alive, that his captors are identified, and that " 

 ".

At the end of August, the ICRC (International Committee of the Red Cross) sent letters from Soumaïla Cissé to her family, written a month earlier. 

Since the seizure of power by the CNSP military junta on August 18,

with the kidnappers.

Nothing, until the outcome.

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