The Reporter’s family wants to “make noise” to raise public awareness, while 42 journalists’ societies have published an open letter to plead its cause.
Le Monde and AFP
Only French hostage listed in the world, Journalist Olivier Dubois, collaborator of the daily Liberation, is retained by a jihadist group in Mali for a year and his loved ones want “make noise” for this birthday. “We are in stress for a year, but we keep energy to help Olivier making noise and speaking of him,” says AFP his sister, Canele Bernard, before this anniversary, Friday, April 8th.
For that, the family of the journalist, represented by his mother, his sister and the spouse of the latter, made a video to raise awareness. Online on YouTube from Thursday evening, it shows the faces of French personalities, like Journalists Elise Lucet, Gilles Bouleau and Florence Aubenas (herself hostage in Iraq in 2005), the group of rap Iam or the actor Yvan Attal. This video closes on a call to sign the petition launched on January 6, which claims more than 80,000 signatures. “It is this petition that allowed us to talk about Olivier,” said his sister.
In parallel, a support banner will be unveiled in Montpellier, Friday at 6 pm, by Reporters Without Borders (RSF), after 19 other cities in recent months. A walk is also organized Friday in Metz. And 42 journalists’ societies, including liberation, point and young Africa, who employ Olivier Dubois, have published an open letter on Thursday to plead his cause. They request that his release be “a priority” of the one who will be elected to the presidency of the French Republic on April 24th.
The 47-year-old independent journalist, who has lived in Mali since 2015, covered the safe turmoil crossed by the Sahelian country. He had himself announced his kidnapping in a broadcast on social networks on May 5, 2021. He explained to have been kidnapped on April 8 in Gao (North) by the Support Group for Islam and Muslims (GSIM) , Main jihadist alliance in the Sahel, linked to Al Qaeda. Olivier Dubois is the only French hostage in the world since Liberation, in October 2020, from Sophie Péronin, also removed in Mali.
“The state must inform families”
On March 13, a new video of him circulated on social networks, without knowing his origin or date. The hostage, which appears in good health, addresses his parents, to the mother of his two children, his sisters and the French government, to which he asks “to continue to do his possible” for his release. Shortly after March 17, the Malian junta suspended the diffusion of RFI radio and the France 24 television channel, in a context of tensions with France. Gold RFI regularly broadcast messages from the relatives of Olivier Dubois to it.
“Four days after this proof of life, it was a cold shower, since he described our messages on RFI of” Fresh air “in the video,” said his sister. “For him, it’s a double punishment, he is no longer connected to the world,” says Canele Bernard, who regularly deplores a “lack of information” from the French government. “I’m not saying that the state does nothing, but that it must inform families. Otherwise, it suggests that it may not happen much, and that’s why we climb More and more in the niche “, she ensures.
“In terms of terrorist removal, discretion is an essential condition,” responded to AFP a spokesman for the Quai d’Orsay. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, via its Crisis Center, maintains “a very narrow contact with all members of the family of Olivier Dubois, his parents and his sisters in France, like his ex-companion in Mali. He accompanies them and sends them all the information he is able to share, “he added.