French Reporter Feared To Be In Terrorist Captivity In Mali - Top French Diplomat

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 23rd May, 2021) French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian on Sunday said that Olivier Dubois, an experienced French reporter who was working in Mali and went missing last month, was abducted by Islamist militants operating in the Western African nation.

"Everything leads us to think that he is a hostage of a jihadist group," Le Drian told the RTL broadcaster, adding that "necessary means" are being implemented to identify the location of the captured reporter and release him.

Thus, the minister confirmed an opinion voiced by the NGO Reporters Without Borders (RSF) in early May that Dubois was kept by a jihadist group after he was kidnapped in the northeastern city of Gao.

The organization said these conclusions were based on a video released on social media earlier in the month featuring Dubois revealing the details of his abduction.

The French Anti-Terrorism Prosecutor's Office has been investigating the journalist's disappearance as an "organized gang kidnapping" and "in connection with a terrorist enterprise."

Mali, a country situated in the African Sahel region, infamous for terrorist activities and related insecurity, is regularly rocked by Islamist attacks, killings, and abductions. According to RFS, the Western African nation ranks 99th out of 180 countries in the 2020 World Press Freedom Index.