In 2023, africologne commissioned a series of plays addressing themes of violence and resistance in the Sahel region—among them, a work by Burkinabe author Justin S. Drabo. His monologue Aliens draws from a deeply personal connection: Drabo’s longtime friend, Jörg Lange, was held captive by jihadist groups in Mali for nearly five years before his release.
Written from the perspective of the kidnapped man’s son, Aliens blends real and fictional elements. Justin S. Drabo and Jörg Lange will join a conversation about the situation in the Sahel and their personal experiences. Jörg Lange will also read excerpts from his yet-unpublished manuscript Satan im Wüstensand – 1702 Tage in jihadistischer Geiselhaft in Sahel und Sahara (working title).
Frank, the protagonist, is convinced that his father is trying to communicate with him through dreams. Desperate for answers, he turns to the writings and testimonies of intellectuals and artists from the Sahel, as well as Western voices, in an attempt to make sense of his father’s fate.
The monologue unfolds as a kind of geopolitical autopsy—examining the crisis in the Sahel and the broader challenges in the global fight against terrorism. At the same time, Aliens confronts reductive and stereotypical views of “Africa” from a Western perspective—and vice versa. Drabo weaves a powerful critique of international politics and interest-driven agendas, culminating in a plea for global citizenship.
Aliens will be presented in German translation as part of the africologneFESTIVAL.
Justin S. Drabo is a Burkinabe author. In L’Ingérence (at the africologneFESTIVAL 2017), he told the true story of Jörg Lange in Burkina Faso. The civil engineer and expert in development cooperation was ‘re-moved’ from the country from one day to the next after his ‘interference’ in the affairs of power of former President Blaise Compaoré in 2005.
Jörg Lange, a theologian (University of Vienna) and hydraulic engineer (Cologne), worked for more than 20 years as a consultant engineer for development cooperation projects in Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger, Cameroon, RD Congo and Haiti. In April 2018, as country director of the aid organisation “Help – Hilfe zur Selbsthilfe”, he was kidnapped by jihadists on the border between Niger and Mali and held hostage in Mali for 1,702 days. He was released on 8 December 2022.
SCENIC INSTALLATION N.N. | WITH N.N. | TRANSLATION Annette Bühler-Dietrich, Mahamadou Famanta