Sophie Pétronin: what we know about the return of the 76-year-old ex-hostage in Mali

Marion Gauthier and Solène Leroux 2:57 p.m., November 3, 2021

A return to Mali, and many questions.

While France had mobilized to obtain her release, Sophie Pétronin returned to Mali since last March.

Officially, it was a departure on vacation with his son Sébastien.

They were allowed to fly from Geneva to Dakar, Senegal.

But the journey continued: for three days, they huddled at the back of the bus or hung on the saddle of a motorcycle taxi.

The 76-year-old former humanitarian was thus able to cross the Malian border.

This return to Mali is the consequence of a brutal return from captivity, underlines journalist Anthony Fouchard, close to the Pétronin family.

>> Find Europe midi in replay and podcast here

Concern for her adopted daughter

He recounts six months of wasting away from the former hostage in Europe between his suicidal speeches and his constant worry for his adopted 19-year-old daughter, Zeinabou.

He recalls his futile efforts to bring the young woman to Switzerland, his two visa applications refused.

Her son Sébastien ends up giving in and helps his mother find the Malian soil she loves so much, which she trod for more than twenty years.

For the time being, Sophie Pétronin ensures that she remains in Bamako, the capital of Mali.

She expressed her surprise to Anthony Fouchard: according to her, the Malian authorities have been aware for months, he reports to our colleagues from LCI, and she is surprised that it bothers now.

"I'm pretty much like everyone else: shocked," said

François-Xavier Freland, former correspondent in Mali at the microphone of Romain Desarbres.

"Without wanting to participate in the media quash, it is sure that she gave the baton to be beaten", lambasted the author of 

.

Recalling Sophie Pétronin's attachment to the region, he explained that the latter is "an adventurer", but she is also "very French because, somewhere, she pays a rich man's whim".

Under the protection of an imam?

According to the journalist, Sophie Pétronin is currently under the protection of an imam in Bamako.

"It is very worrying" because this same imam "supports the current regime of the junta, of the current transitional president" and "defends a rigorous Islam".

He also "participated in secret contacts with the group that had taken Sophie Pétronin hostage" he lamented, "so we can see that there is a certain ambiguity".

A "form of irresponsibility" according to the government

For its part, the government deplored on Wednesday the return to Mali of the former French hostage, denouncing through the voice of its spokesperson Gabriel Attal a "form of irresponsibility" vis-à-vis "his security" but also vis-à-vis "the security of our military". 

"When we have nationals who are taken hostage abroad, it is our soldiers who will rescue them at the risk of their lives, we have soldiers who have been killed in the course of operations to go and rescue hostages who had been taken prisoner in foreign countries ", underlined Gabriel Attal, who asked for" respect for our soldiers ".

"We are monitoring this situation and the Quai d'Orsay is monitoring this situation very closely," added the spokesperson without giving details on the situation of Sophie Pétronin.