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French reporter kidnapped by jihadi rebels in northern Mali
[AlAhram] Dubois was reporting in Gao in northern Mali and did not return to his hotel after lunch on 8 April

The chief of Reporters Without Borders says that jihadi rebels kidnapped French journalist Olivier Dubois on April 8 while he was working in Mali's northern city of Gao.

A video was released Wednesday that shows Dubois saying he was kidnapped by the al-Qaeda-linked group JNIM.
...Group to Support Islam and Moslems (GSIM), or in Arabic Jamaat Nusrat al-Islam wal-Moslemin, the regional Al Qaeda in North Africa affiliate. Organizationally they reported to Abdelmalik Droukdel’s group, which once upon a time was the Algerian jihadi group Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat. Whether they still do, given he was killed by the French last year, is an interesting question. ...
In the video he calls on his family, friends and authorities to work for his release. The video could not be independently verified.

Reporters Without Borders chief Christophe Deloire confirmed the kidnapping to The News Agency that Dare Not be Named, and called for the news hound's release.

``We ask the Malian and French authorities to do everything possible to obtain his release and send all our support to his family and loved ones,'' he posted on Twitter.

Dubois was reporting in Gao in northern Mali and did not return to his hotel after lunch on April 8, Deloire said. Dubois usually works for LePoint Afrique.

The French Foreign Ministry confirmed his disappearance, saying they are in touch with his family and Malian authorities.

Mali has been in turmoil since a 2012 uprising prompted mutinous soldiers to overthrow the president. The power vacuum that resulted ultimately led to an Islamic insurgency and a French-led campaign that ousted the jihadists from the cities they controlled in northern Mali in 2013.

But faceless myrmidons remain active and hard boy groups affiliated with al-Qaeda and the Islamic State
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that they were al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're really very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear western pols talk they're not really Moslems....
 group have moved from the arid north to more populated central Mali since 2015, attacking targets and stoking animosity and violence between ethnic groups in the region.
Posted by: trailing wife 2021-05-06
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=601153