Members of Cape Town’s large Muslim community are supporting the campaign to release South African hostage Gerco van Deventer, who has been held in Mali for more than five years.
Van Deventer, a paramedic, was captured in Libya by a splinter group of Al-Qaeda before being “sold off” to captors in Mali.
Humanitarian aid organisation Gift of the Givers attempted to intervene in 2019, but ransom money was demanded and it is neither the policy of Gift of the Givers nor the South African government to acquiesce to demands for ransom.
Gift of the Givers did manage, however, to bring the amount down substantially.
From 2020, all negotiations stopped because of Covid-19, but earlier this month Gift of the Givers negotiator Mohamed Yehia Dicko flew to in Mali.
“We have proceeded with a campaign focusing on the month of Ramadan as a month of mercy,” Gift of the Givers head Imtiaz Sooliman told TimesLIVE.
On Friday night, the deputy president of the Muslim Judicial Council Moulana Abdul Khaliq Allie “made a passionate call to Al-Qaeda to release Gerco unconditionally”.
He made his plea in Arabic and sent it “across on Friday night”.
On Saturday night, according to Sooliman, “a committee worker in Pelican Park arranged a placard display and made a video to be sent to Al-Qaeda pleading for Gerco’s release.”
The placard display formed part of the Iftar (fast-breaking) meal which was attended by more than 3,000 people and hosted by Gift of the Givers.
“The video was made and sent across to Yehia who was extremely grateful for the messages and support coming from South Africa.
“He has pushed those items to the intermediaries to forward to the captors. We remain hopeful during this month of mercy things will change and the captors will look at Gerco with a compassionate eye,” Sooliman said.
Van Deventer had been held alongside French journalist Olivier Dubois who was released in late March.
The two men spent 18 months together in captivity and Dubois has been calling for Van Deventer’s release since.
Message for Mali captors
Cape Muslim community calls for compassionate release of SA hostage
Negotiator from Gift of the Givers passes on video to intermediaries in Mali
Members of Cape Town’s large Muslim community are supporting the campaign to release South African hostage Gerco van Deventer, who has been held in Mali for more than five years.
Van Deventer, a paramedic, was captured in Libya by a splinter group of Al-Qaeda before being “sold off” to captors in Mali.
Humanitarian aid organisation Gift of the Givers attempted to intervene in 2019, but ransom money was demanded and it is neither the policy of Gift of the Givers nor the South African government to acquiesce to demands for ransom.
Gift of the Givers did manage, however, to bring the amount down substantially.
From 2020, all negotiations stopped because of Covid-19, but earlier this month Gift of the Givers negotiator Mohamed Yehia Dicko flew to in Mali.
“We have proceeded with a campaign focusing on the month of Ramadan as a month of mercy,” Gift of the Givers head Imtiaz Sooliman told TimesLIVE.
On Friday night, the deputy president of the Muslim Judicial Council Moulana Abdul Khaliq Allie “made a passionate call to Al-Qaeda to release Gerco unconditionally”.
He made his plea in Arabic and sent it “across on Friday night”.
On Saturday night, according to Sooliman, “a committee worker in Pelican Park arranged a placard display and made a video to be sent to Al-Qaeda pleading for Gerco’s release.”
The placard display formed part of the Iftar (fast-breaking) meal which was attended by more than 3,000 people and hosted by Gift of the Givers.
“The video was made and sent across to Yehia who was extremely grateful for the messages and support coming from South Africa.
“He has pushed those items to the intermediaries to forward to the captors. We remain hopeful during this month of mercy things will change and the captors will look at Gerco with a compassionate eye,” Sooliman said.
Van Deventer had been held alongside French journalist Olivier Dubois who was released in late March.
The two men spent 18 months together in captivity and Dubois has been calling for Van Deventer’s release since.
WATCH | Video plea for help from South African hostage held for five years in Mali
According to Reuters, Dubois arrived home to be “warmly embraced by family members and French President Emmanuel Macron”.
He had spent almost two years in captivity after disappearing in Mali’s northern city of Gao in April 2021.
He was taken to Niger with an American aid worker who was also freed after six years in captivity.
Van Deventer’s story is reminiscent of that of Stephen McGown, a Johannesburg resident who spent six years in captivity in the desert in Mali after being captured on his travels across the continent.
The negotiator who ultimately facilitated his release was also Dicko, and hope is now pinned on him to achieve the same for Van Deventer.
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