The denial came from the Support Group for Islam and Muslims (GSIM).
According to the militant group, the former prefect of Gourma Rharous in the Timbuktu region, Idrissa Sanogo, who was kidnapped in May 2020, is still alive.
His death after a “long illness” was announced by the GSIM on October 13.
He was kidnapped by the group – the main branch of Al-Qaeda in the Sahel – in May 2020 as he was returning to his post from Timbuktu, where he had just announced the results of the legislative elections.
In a statement issued by the GSIM on Monday, after “apologizing” to the relatives of the former prefect of Gourma Rharous, Idrissa Sanogo, the group said it had made a mistake regarding the identity of the deceased hostage.
According to the GSIM, the hostage was a Senegalese citizen named Amidou Soumaré.
Born in Dakar on January 9, 1969, he was kidnapped by the Serma Katiba – a component of the GSIM – in Hombori in 2020.
It was therefore Soumaré who succumbed to his illness and not the former prefect of Gourma Rharous, Idrissa Sanogo.
The Katiba Serma – part of the GSIM – is considered a dissident branch of Amadou Kouffa’s Katiba Macina. It operates mainly in the border areas of Burkina Faso, which are crossed by a forest called “Serma.”
MD/te/lb/as/APA