Why is the French hostage Sophie Pétronin released now?

French hostage Sophie Pétronin, kidnapped in Gao in Mali on December 24, 2016 by a group linked to Al-Qaeda.

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• Sophie Pétronin, a 75-year-old humanitarian doctor, kidnapped on December 24, 2016 in Mali, was released on Thursday.

  It was the last French hostage in the world.

• Extractions took place in order to free her as well as Soumaïla Cissé, former minister and presidential candidate, kidnapped more than six months ago.

After nearly four years of captivity in Mali, Sophie Pétronin, the last French hostage in the world, was released on Thursday, the Malian presidency announced in a tweet.

But this is not the only one: another hostage, Soumaïla Cissé, a prominent Malian personality, kidnapped in March 2020, has also been released.

The Presidency of the Republic confirms the release of Mr. Soumaila Cisse and Ms. Sophie Petronin.

The ex-hostages are on their way to Bamako.

- Presidency Mali (@PresidenceMali) October 8, 2020

Originally from Bordeaux, Sophie Pétronin, 75, was kidnapped on December 24, 2016 by armed men in Gao, in northern Mali, where she had lived and had headed a children's aid organization for years.

For nearly five years, his relatives had not stopped mobilizing for his release, calling on Emmanuel Macron to continue negotiations with the kidnappers.

Why are these releases happening now? 

takes stock.

Soumaïla Cissé, the main currency

More than a hundred jihadists, imprisoned in Mali, were released between this weekend and Tuesday (206 according to an Al-Qaida communications body).

At the same time, rumors of the release of Sophie Pétronin and Soumaïla Cissé, a prominent Malian personality, swelled.

The latter, former minister and three times presidential candidate, was kidnapped on March 25 while he was on a legislative campaign in the region of Timbuktu (north-west).

The two hostages, the last French woman detained across the world for one and a national political figure in Mali for the other, would probably have served as bargaining chips in negotiations with Islamist groups.

“It is obviously a bargaining chip, but this is especially the case for Soumaïla Cissé.

He is a leading figure in Mali, ”explains Serge Michailof, associate researcher at the Institute for International and Strategic Relations (Iris).

According to him, "France took advantage of the negotiations around the release of Soumaïla Cissé to organize that of Sophie Pétronin".

For this specialist in conflicts in the world, the release of the former Malian minister had been in the drawers for several months, "but it is the list of jihadist prisoners to be released that was a problem," he told

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For Caroline Roussy, researcher at Iris and doctor in contemporary African history, "the main issue of liberation is not Sophie Pétronin, but Soumaïla Cissé".

A great operation for the jihadists

If hostage exchanges have already taken place in the past, releases of this magnitude are exceptional.

"It's almost a first", estimates Caroline Roussy, for whom this negotiation is "a very good blow for the jihadists".

“They wanted to raise the stakes.

They did not want the money and preferred to obtain the release of their men, which is much more valuable, ”she says.

But for the researcher, a question remains unanswered: who are these jihadists?

“The bigger the fish, the more senior they are in terrorist groups, the more successful the operation is for them.

For the moment, neither France nor Mali have communicated on the identity and membership of the released jihadists.

“We have no idea who these jihadists are or what group they belong to.

But Soumaïla Cissé is a leading figure in Mali, which has enabled the jihadists to negotiate being able to recover as much of theirs as possible, ”adds Serge Michailof.

A delicate position for France

The release of so many jihadists is one of the strongest acts accomplished by the military junta which overthrew former Malian president Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta on August 18.

"With this release, the junta shows that it has succeeded where Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta failed for several years", decrypts Caroline Roussy, considering that this is a considerable gain in credibility for the transitional authorities installed and dominated by the military.

If the hostages are released today, it is because “the release of Soumaïla Cissé was not in the interest of the previous Malian regime, analyzes Serge Michailof.

There are even rumors according to which it is the former regime which had ordered his kidnapping so that it does not interfere with the presidency of Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta ”.

According to the researcher, the new regime had every interest in taking over the negotiations around the release of the Malian: “The junta has no dispute with Soumaïla Cissé.

As he is an important figure, they took charge of the negotiations, which is to their advantage.

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And the place of France in all of this?

For Caroline Roussy, France now finds itself in a very delicate position: “France will find itself in a situation of accountability vis-à-vis the junta.

The soldiers of Operation Barkhane have been there since 2014 and it is they who are working to stop these jihadists.

In other words, France will have to thank the junta which freed the jihadists that it itself helped to stop ”.

These situations are, however, part of the “diplomatic game” that served to bring the last French woman detained into the world.

A result that is priceless, both in human and political terms.

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