French FM confirms kidnapping of French journalist in Mali

FILE PHOTO: Olivier Dubois, a journalist who disappeared last month in Mali's northern city of Gao appeared in a video on Wednesday appealing to authorities to do everything they can to free him from Islamist militants holding him. /AFP

French Foreign Affairs minister Jean-Yves Le Drian confirmed on Sunday that a French journalist who disappeared last month in Mali's northern city of Gao had probably been taken hostage by Islamist militants in West Africa's arid Sahel region.

Olivier Dubois this month appeared in a video appealing to authorities to do everything they can to free him from the JNIM (al Qaeda North Africa) holding him.

French authorities have previously only confirmed Dubois' disappearance.

"Everything leads us to believe he's the hostage of a jihadist group", Le Drian told RTL radio.

Three weeks ago the journalist who disappeared in April in Mali's northern city of Gao appeared in a video on Wednesday appealing to authorities to do everything they can to free him from Islamist militants holding him.

"I'm Olivier Dubois. I'm French. I'm a journalist. I was kidnapped in Gao on April 8 by the JNIM (al-Qaeda North Africa).

"I'm speaking to my family, my friends and the French authorities for them to do everything in their power to free me," Dubois said in a 21-second video shared on social media.

Dubois is the first French national to be taken hostage by jihadist militants in Mali since French aid worker Sophie Petronin was freed in October last year. She had been abducted near Gao in late 2016.

Islamist militants have repeatedly declared French citizens in West Africa to be targets since a 2013 military intervention by France drove back al-Qaeda-linked groups that had seized cities and towns in northern Mali a year earlier.

(With input from agencies)