BAMAKO, Mali (AP) – Soumaila Cissé, Mali’s main opposition leader who was held hostage for six months earlier this year by jihadists and was considered one of the main candidates in the 2022 presidential election, died in Paris. He was 71 years old.
Cissé died after contracting COVID-19, his eldest son, Bocar, told the Associated Press on Friday.
“The doctors did everything they could to keep him alive, but that is God’s will,” he said.
Death casts Mali’s policy into a new uncertainty. Cissé was runner-up in the last three presidential elections and many thought he had the best chance of finally winning in 2022.
He was taken hostage by jihadists affiliated with Al Qaeda in March, while campaigning for legislative elections in his hometown, Niafunke, in northern Mali. Amid public pressure, the Malian government obtained its release in October, along with the French and Italian hostages, in exchange for the release of some 200 jihadists from Mali’s prisons.
It was not known whether a ransom was paid, although extremist groups have long financed their operations with these payments from European governments.
In an interview after being released from captivity, Cissé told TV5 Monde de França that his captors transported the hostages by motorcycle, boat and even camel. He said he was detained in more than 20 different places. Although he said he was not physically or verbally abused, he described the extremely difficult conditions in the desert and said he did not have the medicines he needed.
Cisse said he could listen to the radio and was irritated by news of the August military coup that overthrew Mali’s democratically elected president, Ibrahim Boubacar Keita.
Mali’s interim leader, Sem Ba N’Daw, expressed his condolences to Cissé’s family and supporters on Friday, saying that millions of Malians “are in shock” at the news. In describing a meeting with Cissé after his release, he said that “Cissé’s optimism remained intact” and said that “the country still needed its experience and wisdom to face today’s challenges”.
In his last Facebook post, on Christmas Eve, Cissé wished “an excellent holiday of joy and health” to Christians in his country and around the world, at a time when Mali faces several crises – including the coronavirus pandemic.
No immediate funeral plans have been announced.
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Angela Charlton in Paris contributed to this report.