Tributes pour in for SA man killed in Mali

PRETORIA: Condolences streamed in on social media yesterday for South African father of four Roelof Janse van Rensburg, who was among 12 people killed during an attack on a hotel in Mali on Friday.

The 38-year-old died when militant gunmen stormed the building and opened fire on a group that included three South Africans on Friday morning.

His two colleagues survived the attack and managed to escape unharmed.

Janse van Rensburg, known among his friends as Jaco, worked for an aviation company and was on a peacekeeping mission to Mali to bring stability to that country when he died.

Reports coming out of Mali detailed a hostage situation, during which the men were locked in their rooms, and yesterday the Department of International Relations and Cooperation undertook to liaise with Malian authorities to ensure that all procedures were complied with to assist his family to repatriate his body.

“Government sent its deep- est condolences to his family as they had been informed,” said Nelson Kgwete, Department of International Relations and Cooperation spokesperson.

Janse van Rensburg leaves behind four children, the youngest of whom are 13-yearold twins.

His family declined to speak to the media, saying they wanted to be left alone while they mourned him.

Reuters and ANA report that the nearly 24-hour siege of the hotel ended on Saturday as security forces stormed the building and released some of the UN workers trapped inside.

Four UN contractors, including the two South Africans, were freed in the pre-dawn raid, but Mali’s UN peacekeeping operation, Minusma, said five people associated with the mission had died.

Minusma spokesperson Radhia Achouri said others killed were a Nepalese, two Ukrainians and a Malian. The attack is the latest in what appears to be a growing campaign against Malian soldiers and UN personnel by remnants of an al-Qaeda-linked insurgency movement and newly formed local Islamist groups.