{"id":5367,"date":"2019-02-15T17:01:35","date_gmt":"2019-02-15T17:01:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sahelien.com\/en\/?p=5367"},"modified":"2019-02-22T11:00:12","modified_gmt":"2019-02-22T11:00:12","slug":"exclusive-mali-two-malian-hostages-are-reported-to-have-died-in-the-center-of-the-country-another-testifies-in-a-video","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sahelien.com\/en\/exclusive-mali-two-malian-hostages-are-reported-to-have-died-in-the-center-of-the-country-another-testifies-in-a-video\/","title":{"rendered":"Exclusive\/Mali: Two Malian hostages are reported to have died in the center of the country, another testifies in a video"},"content":{"rendered":"

They are all State agents and kidnapped since several months. Among these three officials, two died according to gathered information. It is as part of a series of reports and documentaries on the situation in the north and center of the country, that Sahelien.com was able to meet the third hostage<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Guir\u00e9 brigade commander, Mamadou Diawara and the president of the Niono District Court, Soungalo Kon\u00e9, kidnapped respectively in October and November 2017, are reported to have \u201cdied as a result of illness,\u201d<\/em> one of the kidnappers of the Katiba of Macina told our reporter.<\/p>\n

After several attempts and with the help of a middle man, an appointment was made on January 25 with members of the group that is holding these Malian officials.<\/p>\n

One of the conditions to meet them is that our correspondent agrees to be blindfolded during the trip. The place, either, was not revealed. After several hours of driving, the meeting point is a relatively forested area. An hour later, a pickup arrived with five men and the hostage Makan Doumbia on board. On the spot, they settled the latter and put behind him, a fabric of camouflage. Among the kidnappers, one who seems to be their leader spoke in Fulani language to our reporter in these terms: \u201cdo not ask more than three questions\u201d.<\/em><\/p>\n

Turbaned, white beard, weakened, Mr. Doumbia talks about his conditions of detention<\/a>: \u201cwhen they took me, I was afraid for my life. I thought I would not see days like today, but thank God, when they brought me, I was gradually reassured. It\u2019s the movement that gave me the blanket I\u2019m sitting on to protect me from the cold. Even under the blanket, I shiver because of the cold. I thank the movement for that. For many people, the prisoner has no right, but this is not the case here\u201d. <\/em><\/p>\n

And to appeal to his family: \u201cI regret very much what happened to me, I did not wish my life like that. I\u2019m telling my wives to have a lot of courage. It was in public service when I was captured. I tell my children to have a lot of courage especially the first three who are a little older to take care of their little brother\u201d.<\/em><\/p>\n

After the meeting, we sought news regarding the other hostages, namely the Guir\u00e9 brigade commander, Mamadou Diawara, and the President of the Niono District Court, Soungalo Kon\u00e9. \u201cThe three hostages were all held in the same place, but the other two died as a result of illness. The brigade commander of Guir\u00e9 died two months ago and the judge of Niono a few days earlier (before the interview, ed)\u201d<\/em>, replied one of the members of the group without further details. At the end of the meeting, the middle man and our reporter (blindfolded) left, leaving them on the spot.<\/p>\n

Contacted by Sahelien.com, the Ministry of Security says they have no information on the fate of these hostages. \u201cWe have no information on the fate of these hostages … and I just learned it from you\u201d<\/em>, said Mr. Sangho, communication officer at the Ministry of Security and Civil Protection.<\/p>\n

In the center of the country, people who are likely or suspected to be close to the State, such as government officials or traditional authorities, are often victims of kidnapping and sometimes murder. Yesterday, two hostages of the NGO CARE International were released after a \u201ccoordinated air raid\u201d<\/em> between the Malian Armed Forces and the French Force Barkhane in the Dialloub\u00e9 area (Mopti region), said the Malian Ministry of Defense in a statement.<\/p>\n

From Nara to the Burkinab\u00e8 border, operates the Katiba of Macina, a jihadist group mainly Fulani, created in January 2015 by Hamadoun Kouffa, a well-known preacher in the region. He claims the establishment of a caliphate in this part of Mali. This Katiba is affiliated to the Support Group for Islam and Muslims created by the merger, in March 2017, of Ansar Dine, AQIM in the Sahel, Al-Mourabitoune and Katiba of Macina.<\/p>\n

Sahelien.com<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

They are all State agents and kidnapped since several months. Among these three officials, two died according to gathered information. It is as part of a series of reports and documentaries on the situation in the north and center of the country, that Sahelien.com was able to meet the third hostage. The Guir\u00e9 brigade commander, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":5368,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,62],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5367","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mali","category-security"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sahelien.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5367","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sahelien.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sahelien.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sahelien.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sahelien.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5367"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sahelien.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5367\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5371,"href":"https:\/\/sahelien.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5367\/revisions\/5371"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sahelien.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5368"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sahelien.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5367"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sahelien.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5367"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sahelien.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5367"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}