VS’is in Gao, a dusty town bordering the Niger River, in central Mali, that Olivier Dubois, collaborator of the Point,of Release and of Young Africa, was kidnapped on April 8 by jihadists from the Support Group for Islam and Muslims (GSIM), the local Al-Qaeda affiliate. Covering the Sahelian conflict involves risks, and Olivier Dubois, a 47-year-old experienced journalist living in Mali for six years, knows them better than anyone. But his passion for the authentic pushes him to always go back to the source. In the video of the claim published by his captors, he is seen sitting cross-legged on the ground, facing the camera, under a tent canvas, in an unknown location. French justice has opened a preliminary investigation for kidnapping in an organized gang in connection with a terrorist enterprise.
Today, it has been 8 months since the French journalist Olivier Dubois, correspondent of (@libe @Point @young Africa), was removed from #Mali.
Let’s not forget that. Take part in the mobilization alongside RSF with #FreeOlivierDubois pic.twitter.com/KNFRWEAmoY– RSF (@RSF_inter) December 8, 2021
During a regular collaboration with our website Le Point Afrique, Olivier Dubois has never stopped tracking down the bloody events that are tearing the Sahel region apart, through his reports, analyzes and interviews. He has proven to be a valuable actor in his place, that of a journalist, to precisely flush out the blind spots of information in order to better understand what is playing out in Mali.
He began his work in July 2018 with the political side, around the twists and turns that animate the constitution of electoral registers for the presidential election. After the contested re-election of Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta (IBK) at the head of the country, he makes us experience the disillusionment of the Malians through his reports on the demonstrations which agitate the capital. He does not neglect the economic dimension with a relevant decryption of Madani Tall, economist and investment banker who played a key role in the rapid growth of Mali during the 2000s. He addresses ethnic conflicts by talking to Ag Mohamedoun, leader of the People’s Coalition for Azawad, a Tuareg politico-military movement. When the military overthrew IBK in a coup in August 2020, Olivier Dubois understood, as a keen observer of Malian political life, that one of the factors that will determine the transition is not the attitude of traditional politicians but that of the religious leaders at the head of influential obediences: that of the Sharif of Nioro, Bouyé Haïdara, representative of a moderate Islam of Sufi essence, and that of the former president of the Malian Islamic High Council, Mahmoud Dicko, holding of a rigorous Wahhabi Islam under Saudi influence. The interviews he drew from his meetings shed light on the essential place occupied by religious in a torn country like Mali.
Trap. Olivier Dubois closely follows inter-community violence – especially between Peuls and Dogons, with the culmination of the Peuls massacre in Ogossagou in 2019 -, kidnappings perpetrated by terrorist groups – with coverage of the release of the opposition leader Soumaïla Cissé, in October 2020, and the series on the captivity of French humanitarian Sophie Pétronin – and the role of foreign forces – with the interview of Colonel Barbry, of the French military device Barkhane.
Beyond their content, these sequences are indicative of Olivier Dubois’ character and his conception of his profession. To inform, you have to go into the field and make the contacts that will allow you to obtain the best introductions as well as the most significant testimonials. This led him to Nioro, in the stronghold of Cherif Bouyé Haïdara, in Kidal, to observe the work in the clandestine gold mines, and in the training camp of the Dogon self-defense group Dan Na Ambassagou. It was armed with this conviction that he went to Gao in early April, where he was very likely trapped by interlocutors he wanted to meet. However risky this trip may have been, it is to the credit of a journalist who chooses to stay as close as possible to events. All the editorial staff and staff of the Point eagerly awaiting his release.
Michele Cattan / AFP
