Forty-seven year old, Gerco van Deventer, was kidnapped in Libya on November 3, 2017
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Copyright © africanews
AFP PHOTO /Handout/Courtesy of the van Deventer family
By Africanews
Mali
The family of a South African held hostage by jihadists in Mali for over five years launched a fresh appeal for his release on Saturday.
Forty-seven year old, Gerco van Deventer, was kidnapped in Libya on November 3, 2017.
Van Deventer, an emergency paramedic who was working for a security company, is the only South African citizen held hostage by a non-state actor in the Sahel, according to his wife, Shereen van Deventer.
The appeal takes place days after the release of French freelance journalist Olivier Dubois, 48, and 61-year-old American aid worker Jeffery Woodke -- respectively kidnapped in 2021 and 2016.
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