A South African paramedic who had been held by jihadists in Mali for over six years has been released, security and humanitarian sources told French news agency AFP on Sunday. Gerco van Deventer was kidnapped in Libya on 3 November, 2017, on his way to a power plant construction site south of the capital Tripoli.
Three other Turkish engineers seized at the same time were freed seven months later, but 48-year-old van Deventer remained in captivity and was moved to Mali.
