An anti-terrorism investigation was opened in France for "organized kidnapping" and "in connection with a terrorist enterprise" after the disappearance in Mali of journalist Olivier Dubois, announced the National Anti-terrorism Prosecutor's Office on Wednesday, confirming information from

Le Monde

. 

This investigation, classic when a Frenchman is kidnapped abroad, was opened after the confirmation on Wednesday of the kidnapping of this journalist by the Support Group for Islam and Muslims (GSIM), which occurred in early April.

A video of about twenty seconds

In a video of undetermined origin circulating on social networks on Wednesday, the journalist, a collaborator of several media, said he was kidnapped in early April in Mali by jihadists affiliated with Al-Qaeda.

An official at French Foreign Affairs in Paris confirmed the "disappearance" of Olivier Dubois, who cooperated with media such as

Le Point 

or the daily

Liberation

.

In a brief video of about twenty seconds, Olivier Dubois says he was kidnapped on April 8 in Gao by the Support Group for Islam and Muslims (GSIM, or Jnim in Arabic), the main jihadist alliance in the Sahel.

He said to address his family, his friends and the French authorities "so that they do everything in their power to get me released".

The Quai d'Orsay confirms his disappearance

Sitting on the ground, his legs crossed on a green canvas, in what appears to be a tent, he says to address his family, his friends and the French authorities "so that they do everything in their power. power to make me free ”.

The journalist, dressed in a traditional light pink costume, with a well-trimmed beard, stares at the camera and speaks in a firm voice.

The movements of his fingers and one leg nevertheless seem to reflect a certain nervousness.

“We confirm the disappearance in Mali of Olivier Dubois.

We are in contact with his family as well as with the Malian authorities.

We carry out the usual technical verifications ”, assured an official of the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The daily

Liberation

, for which he had worked regularly since April 2020, said he did not wish to comment immediately.

There were no more French hostages in the world since the release in October 2020 of Sophie Pétronin, a septuagenarian kidnapped almost 4 years earlier, by armed men also in Gao, where she had lived and headed an organization for years. aid to children.

Swiss evangelical missionary executed in October

Sophie Pétronin was released at the same time as Malian politician Soumaïla Cissé, who has since died, and two Italians, Nicola Chiacchio and Pier Luigi Maccalli, also kidnapped by jihadists.

Despite persistent conjectures, the Malian government has never confirmed the payment of a ransom, in addition to the release of 200 prisoners, including a number of jihadists, against the freedom of these four hostages.

In October 2020, Switzerland was informed that the GSIM had executed Béatrice Stöckli, an evangelical missionary, who had been kidnapped in January 2016 in Timbuktu.

Last March, the Swiss Foreign Ministry indicated that his body had been found and formally identified.

Mali has been plagued since 2012 by a jihadist surge from the north, which plunged the country into a security crisis and spread to the center of the country.

The violence has also spread to neighboring Burkina Faso and Niger.

Violence - jihadist, inter-communal or other - has claimed thousands of lives and displaced hundreds of thousands, despite the intervention of UN, French and African forces.

  • World

  • Journalist

  • Removal

  • Mali

  • Hostage

  • Media