APA-Johannesburg (South Africa) South African paramedic Gerco van Deventer has been freed into the hands of Algerian authorities, more than six years after being kidnapped by jihadists in Libya in November 2017.
Van Deventer was captured by a splinter group of Al-Qaeda before being “sold off” to the Jama’at Nasr al-Islam wal Muslimin Al-Qaeda group in Mali in 2018, making him the longest-held South African hostage in captivity.
According to Imtiaz Sooliman who heads local charity Gift of the Givers, South African state security officials confirmed at the weekend that they had been advised by their Algerian counterparts that van Deventer has been freed and have been “taken to hospital for a health review.”
“We await the next step on his health and arrangements to bring him home to be reunited with his wife Shereen and son Asher,” Sooliman in a statement.
He said the paramedic has to be released through Algeria, “apparently because of the current new war between the Mali military and the Tuaregs.”
Gift of the Givers had been trying to secure his release since his capture.
Van Deventer, 48, was kidnapped on his way to a power plant construction site some 1,000 km south of the Libyan capital Tripoli.
Three Turkish engineers seized at the same time were freed after seven months, but van Deventer remained in the kidnapper’s custody before being moved to Mali for his detention, according to reports.
The Gift of the Givers claimed that “the initial request for Gerco was a US$3 million ransom and over a period of time, we negotiated the amount down to US$500,000”.
It, however, did not disclose whether the money was paid – and if so, by whom – only saying in a statement that the family could not afford the ransom.
NM/jn/APA