Reporters Without Borders (RSF) urges the Malian and French governments to do everything possible to secure the release of the journalist who claims to have been abducted by an armed Islamist group.
In a 21-second video broadcast on May 5, French journalist Olivier Dubois claims to have been “kidnapped” by the “Support Group for Islam and Muslims” on April 8 in Gao, northeastern Mali (GSIM ). He was reporting for Le Point Afrique at the time of his abduction, and he was a seasoned journalist and Mali expert. When the journalist did not return to Bamako as scheduled two days after his disappearance, RSF was notified. The video is still being checked.
Arnaud Froger, head of RSF’s Africa office said,”We ask the Malian and French authorities to do everything possible to obtain his release and send all our support to his family and loved ones.”
Because of the involvement of armed groups in the Sahel, journalism is highly dangerous. On April 26, Spanish reporters David Beriain and Roberto Fraile were killed in Burkina Faso while reporting with an anti-poaching patrol on the road leading to the Pama Nature Reserve in eastern Burkina Faso.
According to RSF, Mali’s northern and central regions are also highly dangerous. In 2013, two RFI journalists, Ghislaine Dupont and Claude Verlon, were assassinated there. More than seven years after the events, joint investigations in France and Mali have not been able to unearth any clues behind this double assassination.
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