Imtiaz Sooliman – Sooliman on Shiraaz Mohamed Kidnapping

			A very good
		

			morning and warm welcome back to
your feel good breakfast show on
		

			this Wednesday morning now today
marks one week and one day since
		

			South African photojournalist
Shiraz Mohammed was kidnapped in
		

			Syria, and they are still there's
still no word on his whereabouts.
		

			Currently. Now on the line is Dr
Imtiaz Suleiman, founder of NGO,
		

			gift of the givers, who's
negotiating his safe return. A
		

			very good morning to you, doctor,
and thank you so much for joining
		

			us. Good morning to you. Now, the
abduction came as a shock to South
		

			Africans and to Shiraz family as
well. And the details surrounding
		

			his abduction are still very
blurry. But has there been any
		

			further information revealed to
you about the abduction? The
		

			abduction so it is indeed very,
very shocking and blurry, because
		

			in that area where we operate, the
road that he was taken on, there's
		

			never been an incident in the on
that road for four years since
		

			we've been there, and our
ambulances travel daily on that
		

			road to take patients from our
hospital to Turkey. There has been
		

			no word. Because till now, No
group has claimed responsibility.
		

			There's been no demands. Even when
they stopped my drivers, they
		

			didn't say they want money, or
they just said kidnapping, or it's
		

			hijacking. They just said The only
question should ask for some
		

			misunderstanding, and that the
misunderstanding that nobody knows
		

			what they're talking about. Wow.
So it was a very specific and
		

			targeted abduction, and what is
the current state of negotiations?
		

			I mean, are the people that took
him making any particular demands
		

			of you? No group has gained
responsibility. So nobody has said
		

			they want something. So we can't
talk to anybody. We can't
		

			negotiate because we don't know
who's holding him right now. You
		

			know what? There's an awareness in
the whole of Syria. Everywhere
		

			there's protest marches. People
are, you know, spreading the word
		

			spending, actually spending.
Shiraz photograph all over to say
		

			that we're looking for this man.
He's a South African, South
		

			African civil ready to throw
people in difficulty. We can't
		

			allow this. We need to find him
resilience against this. This is
		

			not in keeping with our culture.
And as you said earlier on, there
		

			hasn't been any incident on this
particular road that you operate
		

			on for four years now, and gift of
the givers was also instrumental
		

			in trying to get Pierre Corky
back. Are there any similarities,
		

			perhaps, that you can draw between
these two abductions that might
		

			aid it's completely different. You
know, it's completely different in
		

			every way. The guys who took him
down are professional at all, to
		

			be honest. You know, in corkis
case, it's al Qaeda argue.
		

			Examples, first of all, they
blindfolded both the drivers, but
		

			then an hour when they took them
to a place in our way, they opened
		

			their blindfolds, the drivers
could see the face of the person
		

			who took them, the cell phone that
they confiscated from the driver.
		

			They returned. They gave an exact
description of the area they
		

			brought them to. Now that's not a
professional, you know, kidnapper,
		

			so it's very, very different. So
we're not sure about the motors.
		

			If they don't want money, they
don't want to have no other
		

			requirements for nuclear
misunderstanding. If the
		

			misunderstanding is cleared, they
promise to bring back in two days.
		

			It's eight days straight. Why
haven't they brought it back? So
		

			we can understand the motives. We
can try to figure out why they
		

			took him. Yeah. Are you receiving
any sort of assistance to help you
		

			in returning Shiraz? And what is
the next step of action? Well, we
		

			have, we've engaged the Turkish
Government, the governor on the
		

			border with Syria, he's promised
total cooperation with us. We, we
		

			know him quite well, because we
use that border all the time. And
		

			of course, Turkey has troops
inside Syria, so maybe through the
		

			intelligence services, maybe they
can help be in touch directly with
		

			our international relations and
our state security. They working
		

			through their mechanisms, from
London to a group of people who
		

			have friends inside Syria. They've
also done some aid work. They
		

			said, Look, we also have done aid.
We have networks inside Syria.
		

			They met us at our hospital inside
Syria yesterday and said, Look, we
		

			would support the campaign. And
then the Sicilian people, they you
		

			know, they're marching in all the
cities taking pictures and saying,
		

			You know what, we all going to
help to search. In fact, search
		

			teams are going to different areas
different cities, to physically
		

			look for the cars they took Shiraz
and, you know, and see if they can
		

			identify the people who took him.
Dr Suleman, thank you so much for
		

			joining us on the line, and thank
you so much for all the efforts
		

			that you're putting in. I'm sure
the family appreciated. South
		

			Africans appreciate it trying to,
of course, get Shiraz back home
		

			safely. And we wish you all of the
best. Thank you very much. If
		

			you'd like to get in touch with
gift of the givers, you can do so
		

			online at gift of the givers.org
and we do all as the expresso
		

			family also pray for Shiraz safe
return back home. Now it's time to
		

			talk finances, and in today's
finance segment, we chat, we chat
		

			about the financial or to
financial planner Warren Ingram
		

			from Galileo capital, about how we
can negotiate a raise or a
		

			promotion at the start of 2017
Wouldn't that be amazing, and how
		

			you can plan your career for the
year ahead. You.