Cape Town - The Department of International Relations and Cooperation (DIRCO) has been urged to ‘exert its energies’ in facilitating the safe release of a South African held hostage in Mali for five years.
Gift of the Givers has recently confirmed that a negotiator was on the ground pleading for his release.
While working as a paramedic, Gerco van Deventer, 47, was kidnapped in Libya on November 3, 2017. Eight months later he was sold to al-Qaeda terrorists in Mali, who demanded a US$3 million (R55m) ransom for his release, which the family did not have.
According to Gift of the Givers founder, Imtiaaz Sooliman, Van Deventer was currently the only South African known to be held hostage abroad.
“We started the case for Gerco in 2019, making contact with intermediaries. We brought the price down to 500 000 then everything came to a dead end. (During) Covid everything stopped.
In January they released a new video, there’s nothing we could do because nobody could pay.
A few weeks ago a French national was released. Days later a French radio station said he had been held captive with Gerco for a few months. Gerco was in good condition, shot in (the) left arm, and lost teeth but apparently, he is still fine.
“We spoke to the negotiator, we could give it one more shot. The only leverage we have is that it’s the month of Ramadan; we hope they will have mercy. We’ll also explain that if he had money he wouldn’t be staying there for five years.”
Sooliman explained that the chain of command was a long one, with negotiators only working through several intermediaries at any given time.
He explained that the stance of most governments on these matters was that they don’t talk to terrorists and they don’t offer ransom.
DIRCO did not respond to requests for comment by deadline on Wednesday.
Siseko Maposa, a director at specialist foreign policy consultancy, Surge tower Associates said: “Irrespective of the fact that there is no binding international protocol which mandates action, DIRCO has an important role to play in responding to this matter.
The Department ought to be exerting its energies to facilitate effective cross-border collaboration between the implicated states and agencies which are providing ongoing help, with the aim of improving negotiations and security efforts.
“Importantly, South Africa has embassies in both Libya & Mali, which act as central diplomatic agents and are directly responsible for assisting all South African nationals who are within the national jurisdictions of those countries.
There are also significant symbolic purposes which warrant DIRCO to be at the forefront of the response – that is, it sends a strong message to the international community that South Africa takes human rights violations, such as abductions and human trafficking, and international crimes, such as terrorism, very seriously.
“Given that, in recent years, South Africa has been heavily criticised for not addressing rising rates of abductions and kidnappings within its own borders, it would be in the best interest of the government to offer all the assistance it can to aid the safe return of Mr Van Deventer.”
Cape Times