Mali

The recent release of hostages in Mali raises hopes that more hostages will be released. Several Malians and six Westerners are still in the hands of the jihadists in the Sahel. Among them is the Colombian nun Gloria Cecilia Argoti, known as "Sister Gloria". The Colombian nun was abducted on February 7, 2017 in Karangasso, in the Sikasso region of southern Mali. She then appears in two videos, including one with French-Swiss Sophie Pétronin, who was released Thursday night. That was in September 2018. Since then, there is…

Available! Finally free! Soumaïla Cissé, Sophie Pétronin and the other hostages are reunited with their families. Also the senior figures from the IBK regime who were arrested during the coup regain freedom while the Malays regain a government and Mali, its rights and powers within ECOWAS. Can we therefore consider that everything is in order and that this country can now resume a normal life?No alas! No! But before we…

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…

"Behind the scenes of a liberation". It is a title that we find at the same time on the front page of Le Figaro and on the front page of Liberation exactly when Le Monde prefers to show "the end of the ordeal for Sophie Pétronin". Because, of course, the newspapers are returning to the release of this 75-year-old French humanitarian, Thursday night after nearly four years of captivity in Mali. A liberation, yes, and "a lot of questions" according to Le Parisien Today in France. The first of them on Emmanuel Macron's…

The release on Thursday night of the four hostages in Mali, Soumaïla Cissé, Sophie Pétronin and the two Italians, Nicola Chiacchio and father Pier Luigi Maccalli, came after long and difficult negotiations with a long uncertain outcome. A ransom would have been paid and many jihadists were released by the Malian authorities. A look back at what we know about the negotiations and the compensation required. with our correspondent in Bamako, On April 5, a few days after the kidnapping of Soumaïla Cissé, the then Prime…

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…

Several hostages in the hands of jihadists were released on Thursday. Among them the leader of the Malian opposition. Soumaïla Cissé was kidnapped in March 2020 in the north of the country while fighting for the legislative election. And that is the relief in Mali after his release. as reported from Bamako For Soumaïla Cissé, it's a first day of freedom. The leader of the Malian opposition has returned home since Wednesday night after more than six months in captivity. "Physically, I have no problem. I feel good.…

The plane with ex-hostages Sophie Pétronin has just landed at Villacoublay airport near Paris. The flight had started a few hours earlier from Bamako, Mali. Franco-Suisse spent almost four years in captivity in the Sahel. She was greeted by French President Emmanuel Macron. With our special envoys to Villacoublay, Marine from…

This release comes less than two months after the CNSP's military coup, the junta that brought down President Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta. Yet it was under the old regime that the negotiations were actively launched, but the moment of effective liberation necessarily favors the current strong men in Mali. The release of Soumaïla Cissé in Mali had become a national, transpartisan, unifying cause. While this is clearly not the primary goal, the associated political gain is indisputable. But to whom can this success be…

"The good news finally fell yesterday", poster in large letters on the front of L'Indépendant, the Malian daily. "Soumaïla Cissé and other Western hostages, including the French Sophie Petronin, are free," we read."It is now confirmed and official," the article insists. "After more than six months in captivity or more than 190 days, the leader of the opposition was released yesterday, Thursday 8 October." He was in the…