Kidnapped South African released

Bamako, Mali (AFP) — A South African paramedic who had been held by jihadists in Mali for over six years has been released, security and humanitarian sources told AFP.

Gerco van Deventer, 48, was kidnapped in Libya on 3 November 2017, on his way to a power plant construction site around 1,000 kilometers (600 miles) south of the capital Tripoli.

Three other Turkish engineers seized at the same time were freed seven months later, but van Deventer remained in captivity and was moved to Mali.

"We learned that the South African hostage was released the day before yesterday," a Malian security source told AFP.

A foreign humanitarian source said that van Deventer was released on the border between Mali and Algeria, adding that she had briefly met the freed hostage at the border.

The security source said van Deventer was currently under observation at a hospital in Algiers.

His wife Shereen van Deventer told AFP that she did not wish to comment immediately, saying they were "a little overwhelmed as a family" by the news and the number of calls.

The two sources confirmed information given by an influential South African charity, Gift of the Givers, which was involved in mediation efforts for his release.

The NGO said in a statement it got involved "at the request of the family" and "made contact with JNIM" — the Al-Qaeda-linked group Jama'at Nusrat al-Islam wal Muslimeen, to whom van Deventer was sold in 2018.

Gift of the Givers claims that "the initial request for Gerco was $3 million, and over a period of time we negotiated the amount down to $500,000."

But it did not specify whether the money was paid and if so, by who, saying in the statement that the family could not afford the ransom.

Van Deventer, an emergency paramedic, had been working for a security company, according to his family, who had launched a fresh appeal in March for his release.