Journalist Olivier Dubois, the last French hostage, has been released from captivity

After being released from captivity, Dubois arrived at Niamey airport in neighboring Niger on Monday afternoon. A picture taken at the airport showed him smiling and wearing a white shirt and beige pants.

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 meet a jihadist leader. We now know that he was captured by thugs who then handed him over,” said France 24 jihadist expert Wassim Nasr. to GSIM.

During a trip to Ivory Coast on December 10, 2022, French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna said France was doing “everything it can” to secure the journalist’s release.

Dubois worked for several French news outlets, including Libération, Le Point, and Jeune Afrique, when he was kidnapped. He was held for about two years. Until his release, he was the only French hostage still being held since the October 2020 release of Sophie Petronin, a charity worker who was kidnapped in Mali in 2016.

The release of the kidnapped American hostage in Niger

DuBois’ release came in the United States The hostage, Jeff Woodkey, was released after more than six months Years in captivity in Africa, White House National Security consultant Jake Sullivan said on Monday.

“I am grateful and relieved to see the US release Jeff Woodkey hostage after more than 6 years in captivity” Sullivan he said on Twitter. Sullivan thanked Niger”to help him get it house”.

Woodky’s release came next years of efforts, a senior US official told the Associated Press. The official said no ransom was paid and no concessions were made to the kidnappers.

(FRANCE 24 with Agence France-Presse and Associated Press)