South African paramedic Gerco van Deventer was on Saturday freed after being held hostage for six years. Captured in Libya in 2017 and later sold to Al-Qaeda in Mali, van Deventer was released into Algeria.
According to Dr Imtiaz Sooliman of Gift of the Givers, the South African NGO which intervened to negotiate his return, the initial ransom amount requested was $3 million; this was then negotiated to $500 000. However, van Deventer’s family back home could not afford to pay the ransom amount.
“There was no benefactor… the company that Gerco had just commenced work for could not assist. Gift of the Givers does not pay ransom, but acts as a facilitator on behalf of distraught families wanting to bring home their loved ones,” said Sooliman.
SMread: Negotiator in Mali to secure release of Gerco van Deventer
Release
The South African NGO got involved in the negotiations in 2018, but that stalled when the Covid-19 pandemic shut the world down. Attempts to secure his release resumed in April 2023 – during Ramadan – and again in June – at the time of the Hajj pilgrimage.
The final word from van Deventer’s captives came in a phone call from an intermediary on Saturday night, said Sooliman.
“He could not be released through Mali, because of the current new war between the Mali military and the Tuaregs. The man from Mauritania had requested a release via the Mauritania State Security, but they refused,” he said.
Sooliman said the organisation will now “await the next step on his health and arrangements to bring him home to be reunited with wife, Shereen, and son, Asher”.
“It has been six agonising years of prayer, patience and hope. May Gerco return home soon, safely,” he added.
