Release of Olivier Dubois: relatives and supporters of the French journalist between joy and relief

France's Olivier Dubois and American Jeffery Woodke (right), March 20, 2023 in Niamey. AFP - SOULEYMANE AG ANARA

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3 min

Olivier Dubois was released after nearly two years of captivity in Mali. The relatives and supporters of the French journalist kidnapped in April 2021 in Gao expressed their joy and relief at the announcement of his release on March 20, 2023.

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I wanted to pay tribute to Niger and its know-how in this type of delicate mission, and to pay tribute to the France as well, as well as to all those who allowed me to be here today. It's short, I have to come to my senses, sorry! Olivier Dubois smiles but struggles a little to find the words on March 20, 2023 in Niamey, while his release after two years of captivity has just been announced to the world.

His father, André-Georges Dubois, had received a call about the release of the French journalist the same morning. "It's a great joy," he confides, relieved, at the microphone of David Baché. During my last message (of support on RFI, Editor's note) I said that with the arrival of spring, I hoped that his ordeal would come to an end. It happened with spring! He laughs, then adds, more seriously: "We were waiting for the news, but we do not expect to hear it brutally like that. I saw a picture of him in Niamey. He seems to be going, I'm not going to say well, but the best he can.

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"I spent a good half hour crying and having to come to my senses"

Some of his supporters have struggled to speak after these 711 days of waiting where the fate of the reporter was uncertain. "I feel between two worlds," Marc De Boni, spokesman for the Support Committee for the Liberation of journalist Olivier Dubois, told Amélie Tulet. It's quite special because it's a crusade in which we engage body and soul with no prospect of an end, without even the promise of a happy outcome and we are so fully bent towards the goal of the return of the person who was taken from us that when it happens, we lose our means. I do not hide from you that I spent a good half hour first crying and then having to recover my senses. "

► Read also French journalist Olivier Dubois released after almost two years of captivity in Mali

Sonia Delesalle-Stolper, head of the international service of Libération, the newspaper for which Olivier Dubois worked, recounted the joy in the offices of the French daily. "Everyone applauded when the confirmation of his release was given," she told Amélie Tulet. Big applause. It happened just before the start of the day's editorial conference. So, everyone was present and that's it, we're all very, very happy. It's a mixture of disbelief because it's been quite a while that we hoped for and we had a lot of moments where we said 'that's it is close' and it did not happen. "

Jiovanny William, French MP for Martinique, where Olivier Dubois is from, also expressed his satisfaction. "It's a relief, really, to know that Olivier Dubois is safe and sound released and that he will return to his family," he told RFI. The effort has been undertaken, the state has done its job. Today, I can only be satisfied to know that Olivier will return among his family and that the work that has been done by the journalists, by the association that was set up for the occasion, by the Martinicans who have also joined in this, well that all this has borne fruit. "

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Read on on the same topics:

  • Mali
  • France
  • Niger
  • Journalism
  • Freedom of the press