Hostage McGowan alive in new video
Extremists’ clip shows kidnapped SA man and six others
SOUTH African hostage Stephen McGowan, who was kidnapped in Mali in 2011, is still alive, according to a new video released. An al-Qaeda-linked group in Mali, Nusrat Al Islam wal Muslimeen, released a video at the weekend proving that McGowan and six other foreign hostages were still alive, the SITE Intelligence Group reported.
The video shows McGowan, Elliot Kenneth Arthur of Australia, Iulian Ghergut of Romania, Beatrice Stockly of Switzerland, Gloria Cecilia Narvaez of Colombia and Sophie Petronin of France. Many of the foreign hostages have been held for years.
The release of the video came after the Swedish government had announced last week the freeing of hostage Johan Gustafsson, who was kidnapped with McGowan as they sat in a restaurant in Timbuktu. However, there was no comment on the fate of McGowan after Gustafsson’s release.
He has remained in captivity despite humanitarian organisation Gift of the Givers trying to negotiate for his release since June 2015.
Gift of the Givers chairman Imtiaz Suliman said the al-Qaeda-linked group had demanded millions of rand for McGowan’s release.
The release of the hostage video also coincided with French President Emmanuel Macron arriving in the Mali capital, Bamako, to support the launch of a new multinational force to combat militants in the Sahel region.
The multinational force formed by the Group of 5 Sahel countries – Mali, Mauritania, Burkina Faso, Niger and Chad – is expected to be operational in a few weeks and will include as many as 5 000 soldiers.
Macron said at the summit that France would contribute $9 million (R117m) to the new force, as well as supply 70 vehicles.
Another $57m was pledged by the EU. The new force will complement the 12 000-strong UN peacekeeping mission and the 5 000 French soldiers already in Mali.
More than 100 UN soldiers have died in recent months.
In addition to military support, France is going to provide $228m in development aid over the next five years.
The border area between Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso is where the fight against the jihadists is expected to focus as there have been regular attacks against military barracks there over the past few months.
Last month, about five soldiers were killed in an attack on an army post in northern Mali, according to the military. Eight were also wounded in the attack in Bintagoungou, said Colonel Diarran Kone, the spokesman for the Malian Army. Malian President Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta has described the al-Qaeda-linked extremists as “without face and with no ethics”.
“They do not share our values,” he said. – ANA