soft targets

In the Sahel, domestic hostages are too often forgotten

in depth

This article is part of the dossier:

Kidnappings in Sahel on the rise

By Manon Laplace, Flore Monteau

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Posted on July 13, 2023 08:04

 Malians celebrate the release of Soumaïla Cissé at Bamako airport on 8 October 2020. ©Montage JA; Nicolas Renene/Le Pictorium
Malians celebrate the release of Soumaïla Cissé at Bamako airport on 8 October 2020. ©Montage JA; Nicolas Renene/Le Pictorium

Burkinabes, Malians, Nigeriens: hundreds are kidnapped every year by JNIM or other jihadist groups, in an ambience of almost general indifference.

Hostage-taking in the Sahel, the nerve centre of Jihadist expansion (3/3)

“I appeal to President Assimi Goïta”; “I ask you to do everything possible to negotiate my release”; “I have been arrested by the jihadists”. Three videos, three marked faces and, each time, the same or almost the same words, read under duress.

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