Al-Qaida releases South African kidnapped in Mali
August 3, 2017
A South African who had been held hostage by al-Qaida in Mali since 2011 has been released and is back home. South African Foreign Minister Maite Nkoana-Mashabane on Thursday confirmed Stephen McGowan was released on July 29.
He is undergoing medical checks but has "no major injuries," she told a news conference.
"We would like to warmly welcome him back home and wish him good health, good fortune in his life as a free man. It is with sadness though, that his dear mother... passed on in May 2017 without seeing her son back home," Nkoana-Mashabane said.
No ransom was paid to secure McGowan's release, she added.
McGowan's return home comes just over a month after the release of his Swedish friend Johan Gustafsson, who was abducted alongside the South African from a Timbuktu restaurant. The kidnappers had demanded $5 million dollars (4.2 million euros) for Gustafsson's release but it was rejected by the government, the Swedish Radio said.
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A third hostage, Sjaak Rijke of the Netherlands, was freed in 2015 in a raid by French special forces. During the initial kidnapping, a German man was shot when he refused to cooperate.
McGowan was last seen in a video that emerged a month ago. He appeared dejected, unsure if he would ever be released.
"It's a long time to be away," he said. "Until when do you think this will come to an end? Now we're making a new video, but I don't know what to say. It's all been said in the past. It's all been said in previous videos I've made."Read more : What is al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM)
Al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) have been responsible for dozens of kidnappings of Westerners and scores of attacks on security forces across West Africa.
They began as a spin-off from an Islamist movement that fought Algeria's government in the 1990s and now are active in Northern Mali.
ap/rt (Reuters, AFP)