South African hostage Gerco van Deventer freed by al-Qaeda militants

Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) and other extremist groups in north and west Africa have long used kidnapping for ransom as a way of raising money.The group, which has its roots in Algeria’s bitter civil war in the 1990s, operates across the Sahel region south of the Sahara Desert and within Mali and Burkina Faso.In 2013, former colonial occupier France sent 5,000 troops to Mali to fight the group and its allies, and in 2020 killed AQIM leader Abdelmalek Droukdel.But France pulled out last year amid growing unpopularity in Mali over its military operation.Now Russia’s notorious mercenary Wagner group has been hired by the Malian government to provide security