hostage

Ceasefire’s fragile calm: a pause that forces questions about Gaza’s future The quiet that fell over Gaza for a third day was not the deep silence of peace so much as the cautious hush of people catching their breath. A US-mediated truce has created a narrow corridor for the release of hostages, the return of displaced families and a summit in Egypt billed as the moment to “end the war.” But beneath the immediate relief — and the carefully choreographed optimism in Jerusalem and Sharm el-Sheikh — lie hard political choices…

Gaza’s skyline is being erased — and with it a fragile chance for peace Israel’s campaign in Gaza has entered a new, harsher phase: airstrikes and ground operations that have begun to smash the high-rises that once housed families, businesses and entire neighbourhoods. The intensified demolition of towers in Gaza City — as many as 20 high-rise buildings hit this week — is part of an assault that health authorities say left dozens dead and has pushed the territory further toward a humanitarian abyss. At the same time,…

An undated video with Olivier Dubois has been circulating on social networks since Sunday. Malian sources claim that it seems genuine. In the video of about one minute, the French journalist who was abducted on April 8, 2021 in Gao addresses his relatives and…

In Mali, on July 29, 2021, the artist Dr Kebest was kidnapped by a terrorist group with two members of his team, while he was touring the Timbuktu region. He was detained for three months and released in November. On the evening of Saturday, March 12, Dr. Keb…

In an interview with the Journal du Dimanche (JDD), published this weekend, French President Emmanuel Macron spoke about the anti-French sentiment in the Central African Republic, which he said was being exploited by a private military group linked to Russia. A reference to the private military company Wagner, a group that has no legal existence but has close ties to the Kremlin, say observers and whose…

Kidnapping is on the rise in Nigeria. About thirty Afaka college students, kidnapped two months in the past, have been lastly reunited with their households two days in the past. One among these former hostages, Fatima, who was pregnant throughout the kidnapping, instructed RFI a Hausa concerning the ordeal they have been subjected to throughout their captivity.…

Four days after the release of Sophie Pétronin, Soumaila Cissé and the two Italian hostages, the gray areas are still numerous. France assures it in any case: its role in this affair was only secondary. "The operation was carried out by the Malians, the terms of the negotiations were not carried out by France". This is the message conveyed by the Elysée while the conditions for the release of Sophie Pétronin raise questions. If the two countries' external services have worked together, it is Bamako who has kept control…

Switzerland's foreign ministry said on Friday that a Swiss woman held hostage in Mali had been killed by an Islamist group. The ministry said it had been informed by French authorities that the hostages had been "killed by kidnappers from the Islamist terrorist organization Jama'at Nusrat al-Islam Muslimeen about a month…

Another hostage in Mali, a Swiss woman, was killed by her captors. Bern officially announced it on Friday evening, October 9th. We do not currently know if his death has anything to do with the release of Soumaila Cissé and Sophie Pétronin. The Swiss authorities have not announced the name of the hostage who would have been…

The Malian presidency on Thursday confirmed that French charity worker Sophie Pétronin, who was abducted in Mali and held hostage since December 2016, has been released. "The Presidency of the Republic confirms the release of Soumaïla Cissé and Mrs Sophie Pétronin. The former hostages are on their way to Bamako, "the Malian…