After his release from captivity, Dubois arrived at Niamey Airport in neighboring Niger on Monday afternoon. A photo taken at the airport showed him smiling and in a white shirt and beige trousers.
The journalist announced his kidnapping in a video that appeared on social media on May 5, 2021. “He was on his way to Gao to interview a jihadist leader. We now know that he was captured by thugs who then handed him over to GSIM,” said FRANCE 24 jihadist expert Wassim Nasr.
During a trip to Ivory Coast on December 10, 2022, French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna said France was doing “everything possible” to free the journalist.
Dubois was working for various French news agencies, including Liberation, Le Point and Jeune Afrique, when he was kidnapped. He was detained for almost two years. Until his release, he was the only French hostage remaining in captivity since the October 2020 release of Sophie Pétronin, a charity worker kidnapped in Mali in 2016.
US hostage kidnapped in Niger released
Dubois’ release comes as US hostage Jeff Woodke was released after more than six years in captivity in Africa, White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said Monday.
“I am pleased and relieved to see the release of US hostage Jeff Woodke after more than six years in captivity,” Sullivan said on Twitter. Sullivan thanked Niger “for helping bring him home.”
Woodke’s release came after years of effort, a senior US official told the Associated Press. The officer said no ransom was paid and no concession was made to the kidnappers.
(FRANCE 24 with AFP and AP)