French Journalist Kidnapped by Jihadists in Mali (Video)

French journalist Olivier Dubois said on Wednesday in a video that he had been taken a hostage by a jihadist group in Mali.

The video, which lasts about 20 seconds, shows Dubois, 46, seated on the ground on a green sheet, in what could be a tent, dressed in a light pink traditional gown, with his beard trimmed.

https://twitter.com/Atlantide4world/status/1389879788014276610?s=08

The journalist revealed that he was abducted on April 8 in Gao, central Mali, by the Group to Support Islam and Muslims (GSIM), the biggest jihadist alliance in the Sahel.

Speaking in a firm voice, he urged his family, friends and the French government "to do everything in their power to get me released."

"Olivier Dubois was on a reporting assignment in Gao in Mali. On April 8, he failed to return to his hotel after breakfast," Christophe Deloire, the general secretary of media watchdog RSF tweeted.

"This experienced journalist, who usually works for Le Point Afrique and Liberation, knows this highly dangerous region well."

Deloire added: "We were informed two days after his disappearance. In consultation with the editors he usually worked for, we took the decision to not to make this abduction public, in order not to hamper any swift positive outcome."

He called on the Malian and French authorities "to do everything to secure his freedom."

A foreign ministry official affirmed: "We are in contact with his family and the Malian authorities. We are carrying out the usual technical verifications" of the video.