Imtiaz Sooliman – SA hostage Gerco van Deventer freed
AI: Summary ©
In the South African situation of Dr. India, a paramedic was murdered in Cambodia in 2017 and found in captivity for six years and a month. The situation is described as a shock and a wake up call for the family of the patient. The family members had been working for the same company for years and had paid for their services. They also discuss the release of a woman from Morocco and her impact on their work. The speakers express relief and gratitude for the woman and their work.
AI: Summary ©
All right, let's begin with this South African hercufant in fente,
who was kidnapped in Libya in November 2017
and then sold to an al Qaeda, to al Qaeda, rather in Marlene the
next year, has been released unconditionally. Now, his
captivity of six years and one month makes him the longest held
South African hostage, Vandeventer, a paramedic, was
released into Algeria on Friday. The announcement of his release
was made by gift of the givers, who have been very instrumental in
his release. Let's speak now to Dr India. Suleiman, gift of the
givers, founder, thank you so much for your time. Dr Suleman, let's
just start with what else do we know about his release.
Good afternoon, Bogey. We don't know much, except that he was
released yesterday. From what we were told, I got a call yesterday
afternoon from our state security personnel saying that they got a
call from the Algerian state security to say that they have
have to
fly from him, to fly from wherever to our years, to be checked in a
hospital. And it's all the information they have right now.
They don't know the circumstances of his release. Did we then got in
a pardon me continue.
We then got in contact with the intermediaries and asked, Is this
correct? And they said they apologized. They supposed to have
got back to us a little earlier, but they said It's correct that he
has been released, and if you discuss later, argued all
background behind that. But they said he has been released, and you
know, arrangements were made to Algeria and that he is on that
side now and in freedom, you know, and released unconditionally. Have
they said anything about how he is?
Well, they don't normally tell you that you know, but generally,
procedures that are capital generally kept in very good
condition. There's or if you there's two dangerous parts, if
they're capturing you, you know the data capturing, and you
resist, there's a possibility they'll shoot you on site and you
will die. And if you resist them once in captivity, there's a
chance they'll shoot you then also, but any other, any other
point, you know, they take very good care of you, because you mean
a lot of money to them, especially when they pick up big ransoms,
like 3 million, 4 million, $5 million euros, you know, that kind
of money. So they take very good care of you. What? What? What they
can't take care of is your emotional and your physical state,
because you can be well fed, well looked after, but it's an intense
situation. So you love like how they love moving from area to
area, sometimes in a tent, sometimes in a cave, maybe in a
house in a village, and you eat what they eat so but they take
good care of you. Need medical help. They call the doctors to
take care of you. But your emotional state, you know you're
missing your family. You don't have the condition. How your child
is how your wife is that's very difficult to deal with. And most
sausages, you know, find it very tough when they come back. I can
only imagine. And Dr Suleman, one of the things that you know we are
learning and reading is the fact that he was released
unconditionally. But some viewers may want to know, because we know
that at some point, when they took him, they were asking for, you
know, around $3 million and then the amount at some point. We know
that, according to reports, it was negotiated down, but it was never
confirmed exactly how much they would have wanted. So someone is
watching tonight and listening to us saying he's been released
unconditionally. Does this mean that this ransom was paid or not?
Let's clarify that for them,
there was no ransom. Day. We got involved in 2018 the family came
to us, and we never get involved in cases unless the family asks.
So we got involved in 2018
we have a relationship with the intermediaries, because we've done
many situations in Mali before. We work with Stephen McGowan, Johan
Gustafson, Christopher Patel from Burkina Faso, and we advised other
negotiators on behalf of other hostages from other countries. So
we have a history. And so the first thing we did through the
intermediaries in 2018 he said, we asked, What's the asking? And they
said, $3 million they said, it's crazy. It's a South African
dissembly can afford that. We need to bring that down. It took some
time. Eventually it came down to 500,000 US. But of course, the
family doesn't have that kind of money. There was no benefactor,
and there was no the company that he worked for. He just started
work for them. So they were not going to pay for the staff. They
just started working for them. Gift of the givers. We don't pay
any rent, some money. We facilitate the discussion so that
the hostage can release on behalf of the family. So, because there
was no money, no ransom, that the negotiation sort of just went down
and went cold, and soon after that, it was covid. So everything
died for two years. In January this year, one of the
intermediaries that we know were asked to call us and said, Look,
over the last few years, many hostages have been released. Why
don't you try again? So we said, You've been released because
people have been able to pay money. We don't have money to pay.
So what's the difference? They said, just try. We're not
leveraged. We have nothing to deal with. But fortunately, a month or
two later, was Ramadan, and we used that as an opportunity to
say, look, it's Ramadan. You know, it's the fasting month. People are
so far.
Can you release him? The impeccable communities got
together. They put a blackout, requesting, you know, Please
release him. It's it's a good month. Religious leaders gave a
letter, many letters. They said, release him. We did all that.
Nothing happened. Then came the month of pilgrimage, Hajj. We
tried the same procedure again. Nothing happened. Then something
happened. The earthquake took place in Morocco, and many of the
captors are linked to people in Morocco. They have a penalty from
that country. And we offered assistance to Morocco, not because
of the captains, because that's what we do normally in disasters.
And the Moroccan government politely said, Look, we're
managing. We don't need any help from outside. And they didn't
really take international assistance. But the word got
through to the captors, the gift of the givers offered assistance.
They indirectly sent a message to say they appreciate what we did.
So we tried to use that as leverage to say, Okay, we try to
help your country. Why don't you release her? Go unconditionally.
No response. Then something happened. On November 16. We got a
call late in the afternoon from one of the chief intermediaries
that we've dealt with since 2015 was directly responsible for
Stephen McGowan's release, and he said, I need all the videos again,
the one that the family made, that you published publicly, and the
ones that you haven't published publicly, I need all of them. Now,
what is strange, what was important about that date? And I
don't know it's a coincidence. The morning of 16 November, the head
of my office in Gaza, Ahmad Abbasi, was directly murdered by
his value occupational forces. I know that same morning and his
brother was also murdered on the way back from mosque, from Friday,
from morning prayer. The same afternoon, we get this request and
nothing else is said. On the first of December, we get a call from a
person we don't ever know, never spoke to, have no idea about, and
from another country. He calls us from Mauritania, and he says, I'm
working on the release of cargo now. We don't know what this
person is and what you got to do with all of this. And suddenly,
last night, we get the call after we made the call, of course, to
say that you guys haven't called us, but we hear that kind of was
released in Australia. I mean, Algeria, is this correct? And they
said, Yes. And I said, what we meant to tell you is that, you
know that we normally do it through money, yeah, but we can't
do it now, because the money military and the toilets are at
war right now, so it can't work. We try. You could. You got a call
from somebody in Mauritania, because that person was trying to
release arrange a release from the Mauritania state security. But
they refused. They said, we don't get involved in our situations.
And then we went to the Algerians, and the Algerians have done it
before, and they agreed. So we released him unconditionally
through the Algerian and it's and he said one of the reasons that
maybe he was released unconditionally is because of the
war, the afraid hostages may die in captivity with them, and it
looks very possible that many more hostages are going to be released
unconditionally and very briefly, then we're out of time. How is his
family receiving the news?
Well, you know, the family, of course, not being the wife of
who's a very strong lady. Take it just, of course, I thought she
sees him. You know, she doesn't get overlated and over excited.
She's been very controlled. You know, from the first day, seven
years from six years ago, a strong woman for her, for herself, and
for her son Asher and you know, she's taken it in stride, very
positive, full of hope, full of faith. And you know, waiting for
the outcome, very thankful that it has happened. But of course, the
greatest will be but she received personally in South Africa, and I
have interviewed her before, a very wonderful lady indeed. And as
you say, very, very positive, but well done. And once again, Dr
Sullivan, really, for sticking this one out and never giving up
on this family. And really, you must be relieved as well tonight.
But let me thank you so much, even for your time, just to give us the
update on this very important story that was Dr, mts Suleiman,
gift of the givers, founder, you