APA-Bamako (Mali) – Drissa Sanogo, the Prefect of Gourma Rharous in Mali’s Timbuktu region, who had been held hostage since May 2020, passed away recently.
The announcement was made on Saturday by the ‘Groupe de Soutien à l’Islam et aux Musulmans’ (GSIM), the main ally of al-Qaeda in the Sahel, which had taken him hostage.
Drissa Sanogo was kidnapped on the eve of the 2020 legislative elections, as he was returning from Timbuktu to his post in Gourma Rharous.
His abduction came two months before that of former Malian opposition leader Soumaila Cisse, who was seized by the JNIM while campaigning for re-election to the National Assembly, also in the Timbuktu region.
Released in October 2020, Soumaila Cisse died of Covid-19 in December of the same year.
As for the circumstances of Drissa Sanogo’s death, the GSIM does not give full details, stating only that it followed a “protracted illness”.
The last proof of life of the prefect of Gourma Rharous, dates back to December 2019.
He appeared in a propaganda video in the company of other hostages, including the sub-prefect of Farako (Segou region), Aly Cisse, calling on the authorities to accede to their kidnappers’ demands for their release.
Mr. Cisse was kidnapped on 13 December 2019 and released last May.
MD/te/fss/as/APA