麻豆社

His story could be described as a triumph of the human spirit over tremendous adversity. The 48-year-old French journalist, Olivier Dubois, began working as a freelance journalist in Mali in 2015. He announced his abduction in a video posted on social media in May 2021, saying he had been kidnapped in Gao by Al Qaeda linked jihadists. On Monday, he arrived at an airport in Niger as a free man, together with the American Jeffery Woodke, who had served as a missionary in Niger for more than 30 years. The first we heard of Olivier was when his wife told Focus on Africa he could hear the programme in captivity. He told Veronique Edwards what it felt like to be free again.

(Picture: Olivier Dubois. Credit: Reuters)