BREAKING NEWS

South African kidnapped by al Qaeda in Mali in 2011 released

JOHANNESBURG - South African Stephen McGowan, who was kidnapped by al Qaeda from the Mali tourist town of Timbuktu in 2011, has been released and is back home, foreign minister Maite Nkoana-Mashabane said on Thursday.
No ransom was paid to secure the July 29 release of McGowan, who was undergoing medical checks, Nkoana-Mashabane told a news conference.