Stephen McGown, kidnapped six years ago in Timbuktu, northern Mali, was released, according to UN sources joined by Sahelien.com.
On Twitter, the South African government’s news agency said the release date was July 29. The 42-year-old man is currently undergoing “routine psychological examinations”, Foreign Minister Mkoana Mashabane told a number of media in Pretoria.
Stephen McGown was released on 29 July 2017 #McGown
— SA Gov News (@SAgovnews) 3 août 2017
For now, the South African authorities have given no details on the circumstances surrounding the release of Stephen McGown. Have ransoms been paid? Where was he released?
On November 25, 2011, Swedish Johan Gustafsson, Dutchman Sjaak Rijke and Stephan McGown were abducted by AQIM in front of their hotel in Timbuktu. A German had resisted and was shot down on the spot.
The Dutchman Sjaak Rijke will be released in 2015 and the Swedish Johan Gustafsson in June. Stephen McGown will appear, weakened, in an umpteenth video on the eve of the summit of the G5-Sahel countries in Bamako with five other hostages held in the Sahel. Now free, McGown lost his mother during these years of captivity in the Sahel, according to several international media.
Aboubacar Dicko