Video Message of Hope from South African Hostage in Mali
The Gift of the Givers Foundation has uploaded a video to YouTube which contains a personal message of hope from South African hostage, Stephen McGown, who has been held in Mali for the past four years. In the video, which the Foundation received yesterday, Stephen introduces himself by name and states it is Tuesday 20th October […]
The Gift of the Givers Foundation has uploaded a video to YouTube which contains a personal message of hope from South African hostage, Stephen McGown, who has been held in Mali for the past four years.
In the video, which the Foundation received yesterday, Stephen introduces himself by name and states it is Tuesday 20th October and that he is a South African citizen. He thanks the South African government for its “continued efforts in negotiating” his release, and tells his wife and family “I am well; I hope you are all well back home. I understand that I may be seeing you soon.”
Stephen also thanks the “South African organisation” (presumably referring to Gift of the Givers) which has become involved to help broker his release and draw this nightmare to a close.
The Gift of the Givers, which is the largest disaster relief organisation of African origin on the African continent, explained in a statement that as per a previous announcement, they had made contact with Al Qaeda in Mali where the terrorist group was holding two hostages – McGown and Swede Johan Gustafsson.
The Foundation said: “We received a call on Friday, 20 November, and subsequent calls on Saturday, Sunday and Monday, where we were requested to personally collect video footage concerning the two hostages.
“Our Mali negotiator, Mohamed Yehia Dicko, arrived in Bamako on Wednesday, 25 November 2015, coinciding with the fourth anniversary of the hostages being taken captive.
“It was a week of tense waiting and patience. We received three to four calls a day through the intermediary apologising and confirming that a video will be available soon.
“It finally happened at 13h00 on 1 December 2015, where we received two videos, one for each hostage. The video is self explanatory.”
The Foundation said that given their interactions with Al Qaeda over the past few weeks, the content of the video and date given (20 October) are “absolutely credible and realistic”.
They said that “the most heartening aspect of the video is the fact that the captives are now aware that negotiations are underway for their release which would certainly instill a great deal of hope and positivity in them.
“The road is still long but we will make progress.”
Watch Video: Proof of Life Video from hostage Stephen McGown in Mali
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