Smiling and visibly moved, Olivier Dubois was accompanied as he got off the plane of Jeffery Woodke, a Christian humanitarian who had been kidnapped on October 14, 2016 in Niger.

"I feel tired but I'm fine," the 48-year-old French journalist said as he stepped off the plane, after giving brief hugs to reporters present.

"It's huge for me to be here, to be free, I wanted to pay tribute to Niger for its know-how in this delicate mission and pay tribute to the France and all those who allowed me to be here today," he added.

He also wanted to say "a big thank you" to Radio France Internationale (RFI), which broadcast monthly messages of support from his relatives.

French President Emmanuel Macron on Monday expressed his "immense relief", and expressed his "great gratitude to Niger for this release", after speaking by phone with the journalist.

The latter will be "soon back in France," according to a statement from the Elysee.

Alongside Olivier Dubois, Monday, Jeffery Woodke, white hair and supported by a cane wished to "thank the Nigerien, American and French government".

"Long live the France," exclaimed the man who had been helping nomadic populations for thirty years with an NGO in Abalak, in central Niger, when he was kidnapped.

The White House said it was "relieved" of the release in a statement.

"The hostages were recovered safe and sound by the Nigerien authorities before being handed over to the French and American authorities," Nigerien Interior Minister Hamadou Souley said at the airport.

Olivier Dubois, a freelance journalist, was kidnapped on 8 April 2021 in Gao, northern Mali, by the GSIM, the main jihadist alliance in the Sahel, linked to Al-Qaeda.

He collaborated with Libération and Le Point, and had been living and working in Mali since 2015 when he was kidnapped.

He himself had announced his abduction in a video posted on social networks on May 5, 2021.

After almost a year of silence, a second video of Olivier Dubois, 48, was broadcast on March 13, 2022 on social networks, without indication of the date on which the images had been shot.

"Just amazing"

"It's just amazing, it's something we've been waiting for for two years. For him the nightmare is over, and for his family too. He will be able to resume his life, even if it will be difficult for him to forget that," Dubois' sister, Canèle Bernard, told AFP.

On Monday, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) said it was "immensely relieved".

The editorial staff of the daily Libération, with which Olivier Dubois collaborated, also expressed its "immense joy".

Mali, like its neighbors Niger and Burkina Faso, is going through a serious security crisis with recurrent jihadist attacks.

Kidnappings are one of the serious dangers faced by local and foreign journalists and humanitarians.

Two Malian branch workers of the International Committee of the Red Cross kidnapped between Gao and Kidal in northern Mali two weeks ago were also released on Sunday night.

At least three Western hostages are still being held in the Sahel: Australian surgeon Arthur Kenneth Elliott, kidnapped in Burkina Faso on 15 January 2016, and Romanian security officer Iulian Ghergut, abducted on 4 April 2015 in Burkina Faso. A German cleric, Father Hans-Joachim Lohre, who has not been heard from since November 2022, is believed to have been abducted in Mali.

© 2023 AFP