FRENCH JOURNALIST KIDNAPPED IN MALI

Islamabad; 15 May 2021 – Arnaud Froger, the head of the Africa desk at Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has said that in a video released on 5 May, the French journalist Olivier Dubois confirmed that he had been kidnapped on 8 May in Gao, in northeastern Mali, by a coalition of Jihadi groups called the Support Group for Islam and Muslims (JNIM). 

Dubois was an experienced reporter who knows Mali well, he was abducted when he went to the meeting place that had been arranged for an interview. RSF was informed shortly after he went missing but, like the media outlets that employ him, took the decision not to report his abduction in order not to hamper the possibility of a rapid positive outcome.

His abduction has reminded us that journalists risk their freedom and sometimes their lives to keep us informed about the Sahel, one of the world’s most dangerous regions for media personnel. Two Spanish journalists, David Beriain and Roberto Fraile, were killed while reporting in neighbouring Burkina Faso on 26 April. Two French journalists, Ghislaine Dupont and Claude Verlon, were murdered in Mali in 2013.

Now is the time to mobilise so that Olivier Dubois does not suffer the same fate. We urge the Malian and French authorities to do everything possible to obtain his release and we offer our full support to his family and friends. To support RSF’s actions in Mali and throughout the world, make a donation today.