After 711 days of captivity in Mali, ex-Martinique hostage Olivier Dubois recounts his hell in a 368-page book

It is undoubtedly the novel of the darkest and most painful period of his entire life that Olivier Dubois has just signed: “Prisoner of the desert, 711 days in the hands of Al-Qaeda”.

Nearly two years after this terrible captivity under the yoke of terrorists in Mali, the Martinican journalist recounts his experience.

On April 8, 2021, while I was in Gao, a town in northern Mali, to interview an executive from JNIM, the branch of Al-Qaeda in the Sahel, I was kidnapped by this jihadist organization. During almost 2 years of captivity in northern Mali, every day, while I was chained, under a burning sun, in the freezing nights of the desert, in the rain or curled up on the ground in a sandstorm, I was haunted by the same question: “when and how will all this end? It is to answer this question and give a detailed account of these 711 days in the hands of different katiba of the JNIM, that I plunged back into this captivity, to draw out a new story about my life as a hostage.

On Monday March 20, 2023, France learned with relief of the release by the Nigerien authorities of Olivier Dubois. The President of the Republic Emmanuel Macron, who welcomed him the following day, March 21 (at the Villacoublay air base in Yvelines), expressed his “gratitude to Niger for this liberation” and reaffirmed “France's commitment to action against terrorism in the Sahel”.

Some time after his return, the journalist undertook a tour of several French territories including Martinique, in order to thank all his supporters, before taking a vacation.

This greening will have allowed the ex-captive to rest among his family and to remember this very long deprivation of liberty, before deciding to write a book with hindsight and without disguise.

The slightest sound, a cough, a brief conversation between them, a change of pace, everything is captured and interpreted by my mind. My vision, almost completely obstructed, seeks to capture even a fragment of the surrounding reality. We had been traveling for a good quarter of an hour when the two jihadists began to chat animatedly. The vehicle decelerates. I try, through a thin slit on the left on my glasses, to observe the driver's movements. I perceive that we are turning towards the west. The driver's side window lowers. A breath of fresh air enters the cabin and caresses my face. The discussion between them continues, as we continue our journey in an arc. Why are we slowing down, going backwards?

Beyond the story of a captivity, the “Prisoner of the Desert” gives us “the result of an Interior investigation into jihadist cells, an incursion into one of these organizations that destabilize the world.”

Our common resistance actions are taking place more or less discreetly, but without being discovered. When a drone passes in the distance, we watch for the guards from the back of the tent. If the coast is clear, we wave our arms frantically towards the sky, hoping to attract its attention. On windy days, we take advantage of the cooking fire to make more smoke than necessary. I develop a plan to signal our presence: draw a huge “SOS” in the sand, invisible from the ground, but visible from the air. Gert, taking advantage of his freedom of movement, gradually draws the letters on the dunes during the day, a bottle of water in hand to justify his movements if he is questioned. But between the constant vigilance of the guards, the shifting sand and the wind which erases our tracks, the enterprise quickly turns out to be in vain.

Olivier Dubois, who celebrated his 50th birthday on August 6, currently lives in Paris, where he has new professional projects. But while waiting to reopen this page, the journalist will devote himself to promoting this 368-page book: “Prisoner of the desert, 711 days in the hands of Al-Qaeda”.

This novel, published by Editions Michel Lafon, is available in bookstores from January 30, 2025.