Three Kidnapped and one dead in Timbuktu
 

three more :(

BBC News - Mali kidnapping: One dead and three seized in Timbuktu

Brief details of where the attack took place:

Witness says 1 European tourist killed, 3 others kidnapped from a Timbuktu restaurant in Mali - Brandon Sun

This is getting out of hand - kidnapped in a restaurant in downtown Timbuktu. :(
I hear one Swede (that was a first), one Dutch and one South African were abducted. One German shot and killed while resisting.
Willt there be a Festival in January?

One dead, 3 kidnapped Timbuktu
 

I know this has been noted in another thread, but I think it might help to keep track of news in a seperate thread.

Claims of 2 Dutch and one South African, and a German shot dead :(

Witness' reckon authorities took off after them:

UPDATE 2-Three Westerners kidnapped in Mali, fourth killed | News by Country | Reuters

Three Kidnapped and one dead in Timbuktu
 

Very sad. :(

Don't know if it's connected with Hombori, but you do wonder if some pact has been broken or a turf war broken out in Timbuktu - perhaps caused by recent arrivals from Libya? I would assume they could have grabbed tourists from Timbuktu any time they wanted in recent years.

I calculate that adds up to 13 captives of at least 5 nationalities from 5 separate abductions.

Ch

I think what we are seeing is people coming back from Libya looking for lucrative action.
The Hombori kidnappers were tuaregs (they spoke tamasheq) and Malians believe they came from Burkina, and went back that way.
According to maliweb.net: Trois Européens enlevées
the victims in T'too were two Australians and one Dutchman and the man who was shot American... soon enough we will know their correct nationalities.
The restaurant where they were taken is on the square by Flamme de la Paix monument; from there it is a beeline to the dunes. Still it was a bold action, almost stupid - similar to the kidnapping in downtown Niamey. Are they trying to make a statement?
If these kidnappers think they can start selling hostages wholesale to Aqim, think again. The logistics for keeping a large number of hostages (like in 2003) must be a daunting task, with negotiations going on in all directions.
If they are running this as a business for themselves, that is very different story. And perhaps it can be dealt with internally?

Video on France 24 is now reporting that 5 tourists were targeted, but 1 woman managed to escape.

Devastating news
 

To clarify, from a phone call I received shortly after the Timbuktu kidnaps had happened, the victims are a Swede, a Dutch man and South African with a British passport. The Dutch guy's wife managed to hide and was left behind. An elderly German who wouldn't get in the vehicle was shot.

I would encourage anyone reading this to read Andrew Lebovich's excellent blogpost.

Terrible sad week for Mali.

Richard

Definitely related to Libya -- a lot of people have returned from Libya to the Adrar Ifoghas. Word on the street is there's loads of people in the mountains, with guns. Everyone in Kidal is a bit shaken up right now, the town is dead, no concerts, people are laying low. A faction of the returnees are seeking to restart the rebellion -- the old idea of an independent state of Azawad.

It's not unlikely though, when you have a flood of people coming into the country, right out of fighting a war, they're young, they're hyped up, and they have weapons, that there's a few bandits in the bunch -- that either hooked with AQMI or are snatching up tourists to sell to AQMI. What's most curious about this is tribal divisions. If they are Tuareg who do this, they don't have any alliance to the Kel Ansar of Timbouctou -- this is kind of a direct action against the Kel Ansar -- who basically run the Festival Au Desert -- because it's going to destroy the festival, at the very least for this year (the festival is held a five minute walk from Hotel Amanar).

It's unfortunate that this is happening, and hopefully after awhile things will settle down back into that normalcy. For the moment, travel in the North is going to be difficult -- all the foreigners were evacuated from Timbouctou, flown to Bamako, and I imagine anyone trying to gallivant around the desert is going to run into similar problems (I was held in Niafounke for a few hours in June -- I'll be back in a few months with more updates).

Rule of thumb and take home message is: if you have a gun pointed at you, do what the kidnappers say. Especially these kids from Libya -- they've just seen action, and apparently they wont hesitate to shoot you. So go along, and hope for the best.

chris

This could be so, but I think it's common to blame such events 'on bandits from over the border' - especially if it's locals (Malian's) saying so. Me, I don't see crossing the Niger river as that huge an obstacle, and if they were French agents/PMCs as is suspected, then you'd think it would be the north who wanted to get their hands on them. I suppose we'll find out soon enough.


I was wondering what could be the motivation for returned Tuaregs from Libya to do what they did in Timbuktu - if that was indeed the case. I never really understood if these 'returnees' were a long time living in Libya - embedded in the losing army and so had to flee but now had few connections back home. Or if, as we read, they were among the many sub-Saharan mercenaries flown in this year to do a job because the regular Libyan army could not be relied upon to turn on its own.

In some places I read they are causing fear in north Mali (as described in Kidal). Someone else (from Mali) told me a few weeks ago returnees were being met at the border, relieved of their arms and given payouts. It sounded a bit far-fetched. (He also said there was no way there'd ever be a hit in Timbuktu for the 'alliance/pact' reasons mentioned).

I suppose if you explain it as a few young and audacious mercenaries-turned-crims, fresh from a war they may not have got paid for, then it sounds plausible. But you'd think they'd appreciate there are easier and less risky ways to make money than grab tourists from Timbuktu.

Sounds like a tribal/gang feud may be the result up there.

Ch

I dunno who did the Timbuktu kidnapping, but in time we will know. Like you say, one couldn't imagine tuaregs destroying the festival and thus ruin business for the locals.
But some of the young returnees from Libya don't even speak tamasheq - only arab! They never lived in Mali. They grew up to be mercenary soldiers.
The audacity of the strike and the killing makes me think it was MBM but...

I only just read he was said to be behind the failed Niamey grab in Jan. But in Timbuktu, did he (an Algerian) not get married into the local Berabish or/and Tuareg clans precisely to make an alliance and gain local support?
Seems too much on his doorstep ('70km away') to be him.

We said it many times here, but you'd hope it might bring about some sort of decisive action. Only now there are more armed people in the Ifoghas than ever.

As someone in Kidal puts it: "Qu'allah preserve l'azawad d'un bain de sang"

All we do is speculate, but I think it helps to try and make sense of it all.

Ch

I just don't know about that. If it did happen, I would desperately make a run for it. I would never let me be taken gently for what could be a long and miserable black hiatus in one's life.
I do think you are much safer having a nicely secluded bivacq behind a small dune rather than staying in one of those hotels.
Then of course there is bad luck.
And if you can be kidnapped sitting in a restaurant in a city in broad daylight, then what?

And that is what's so startling about the Timbuktu attack, that they were able to get in and out again in broad daylight. The charge of complicity is a bit hard to avoid, isn't it? Unfortunate as that is, it feels like somebody allowed this to happen either voluntarily or under duress.

Or do people think that's unreasonable? Could a strange vehicle drive straight to the Amanar (it is conveniently right on the northwest edge of town) grab the victims who just happened to be there at the right time, and leave again, without anyone helping them or recognising them?

Richard

I think most of the grabs since 2003 have involved some sort of tip offs and then turning a blind eye (how the Austrians got from Tunisia all the way to Mali in 2008 is a good example).

But IMO 'Timbuktu' [ie: the event last Friday] seems to have either broken the rules or changed the game, and its unlikely to think they would have - or will - get away with the former.

Ch


[speculative discussions on this post moved to here]

According to this Dutch article the Swedish and South African guy where motorcyclists:
Vakantie in Mali eindigt abrupt met ontvoering – een reconstructie :: nrc.nl

The Dutch lady was just getting something out of the rooftent of the car when she saw her husband been taken away and the german, who was just in the wrong place at the wrong time being shot.
http://www.ad.nl/ad/nl/1012/Binnenla...htmerrie.dhtml

Some years ago the Americans had a permanent military base in Timbuktu. I once knocked at their door and then the first question was: how you know we are here? Rather stupid, because I just had to ask some Malians for the right directions. Are they still there permanently, or are they mostly moving nowadays?

I travelled down through Mali 2 weeks ago. From the description of the people abducted, it sounds like we may have travelled with them through Mauritania. We entered Mali together then went our separate ways.

I'm desperate to find out if they are ok, I've emailed them but so far they have not replied. I've emailed the UK's FCO and SA' DFA but no response.

Any ideas on what I should do next?

Thanks

Russell

P.S Guys, you now who you are, if you are you reading this please get in touch.

Swedish guy, 36 yo biker from Stockholm, driving with a pal to South Africa. They split up temporarily as he wanted to make "a tour of the best country in WA"...
He met the dutch couple, the brit/SAn and the german and they went together to Timbuktu. And then.....really bad luck.

UPDATE here are the names!
maliweb.net :: * Enl�vements, dissidences * Etat de guerre au Nord-Mali * Kidnapp�s * Assassin�
"...a little past 13 hours. Toyota BJ station outside the hotel with four men in turbans and trellis. Of "white skin". Two rush into the hotel and close the gate.

Outside remains the driver and another standing guard at the gate, but not for long. The attackers emerged less than ten minutes later with the three tourists they throw handcuffed in the back of the car. They are: Stephen Malcolm Gown* é January 28, 1975 in South Africa, Columbia and South Africa: Nils Johan Viktor Gustafson, Swedish born April 18, 1975 in Karlstad: Jacobus Nicolo Ruke, Dutch, born February 11, 1960 at Beverbuk whose wife owes her salvation to the fact of having hidden in a tent. That's when the German tourist, Martin Eugen Arker born May 18, 1953 in Berlin, comes out of a shop and the terrorists motions him to get in the car. He refuses to comply.

Wrangling. The German is tough and fights well. He receives a bullet in the chest and collapses. Heroically, he pulls himself up and holds on to the car, and then tries to grab the terrorist, who shoots him fatally in the head. It's over. The lifeless body lying on the ground but the brain particles stick to a van parked on the premises advertising the horror. Tragedy: the kidnappers leave as they came.

At eighteen hours, twenty army vehicles under the authority of the Commander Ag Kamo Minini begin proceedings before a disgusted population and in two directions: Taoudeni and that of Gundam. They return, empty-handed, the next day to 18 hours. The day before, the hotel is emptied of tourists staying overnight at the police before being "exfiltration" the next day on Mopti and Bamako.
And Sunday, but sounded decent, Karl Flitner, the German Ambassador in Bamako accompanied by a member of the Malian government, by bringing the body of his compatriot. Already, the Quai d'Orsay had pulled out his red felt he bar across Northern and central Mali. We can not blame him. There are now six French, one Swedish, one Dutch and Anglo-South African who is in the hands of terrorists in the Sahel. AQIM? For the hostages Arlit, for sure, since the nebula has claimed. But for the abduction of Hombori and Timbuktu, there is no for now to criminalize men Belmokhtar. The signature is always good likeness but AQIM claimed or denied. But this is not the case.
But if it is confirmed that AQIM, then there is no doubt that the jihadists who generally avoid abduction on Malian soil, declared war on Bamako. Why would AQIM do this when there is a sacred covenant against it in the sub-region? Perhaps precisely because of this. But let's see. The president, visibly upset and called all his indignation to avoid confusion."

DID IT TAKE 4½ HOURS TO GET THE ARMY GOING???


* 'S M Gown' - actually S McGown? Ch

Damnit, thats him. He was on an XT600 and we travelled together for a week entering Mali together. Really nice bloke. No mention of the guy he was traveling with.

Asolutely guttered right now!

Is there anything I can do apart from wait for the FCO to maybe get back to me?

Guttered...

Dutch news mentioned the names of the 4WD overlanders today on TV / Radio.

I think the name mentioned above "Jacobus Nicolo Ruke" is in fact Sjaak Rijke from Woerden - The Netherlands. He's a train driver for the dutch railroad.

A cached version of his weblog. (as long as its there)

And here's the report about the unfortunate German, shot while resisting being kidnapped.

It seems he traveled in a convoy of two overland trucks

Berliner Tourist in Mali ermordet

The translated version with Google Translate

RIP Martin.... :(

hope the best for the other travelers

Spent some time chatting to the Swedish guy just before Diama about a month ago...

Small world, Sam.

Another eyewitness account. And Bamako blaming MNA.
http://www.maliweb.net/category.php?NID=83952

Hotel Alafia ... I know the place: a small establishment, protected by high walls on all sides, situated on the NW edge of town. The first dunes are some 500 metres west. You park a toyo in front of the gate and nobody gets in nor out. Used to be swiss or italian owned (had another name then, forgot which), but was recently (2011, maybe 2010) bought and renovated by british folk. Nice place, nice personnel in our experience. Small yard, big enough for three, maybe four vehicles. Ideal for kidnapping, come to think of it.

Kidnapper car a toyo BJ??? Odd, wouldn't you think? Not exactly a race car.

Aha, maybe the old name for the Alafia hotel was Amanar, anybody has any knowledge on that? The hostages couldn't have been dining in Alafia as it has no restaurant, at least it didn't have one until very recently.

I think the restaurant was Amanar and the hotel Alafia. But could be wrong.

sahara passion is the old name, i think

as i cannot find the news on the english news pages, i give the link of the dutch article and try to translate the most important.

Nederlander in Mali ontvoerd door lokale tak Al-Qaeda :: nrc.nl

The AQIM made clear that they are responsible for the kidnappings. They sent an email to the press agency AFP. They also wrote in the email that they will soon make clear what their demands are. these demands will be adressed to the french and malinese authorities.

the dutch article says also that sources in the malinese securityservices think that the polisario movement is responsible. they call the polisario momvement a special branch of the AQIM.

Then the email would also show that the kidnapping of the french was done because of the ''continuing agression of france against the islamic countries of the Sahel''. Then the last news in the article says that mali was chosen for the kidnapping because the president of mali fight AQIM under pressure of the USA and France.

i hope it is clear. i hope there will be more news in the english news soon.

Aqim claims kidnappings in Timbuktu and Hombori
http://www.france24.com/en/20111208-...slamist-france

If indeed Aqim is planning a wave of kidnappings as the Algerian DRS has suggested, it would be downright foolish heading to Timbuktu or the region at this time.
Algerian Intel Service: al-Qaeda planning wave of kidnappings of Westerners - Fayetteville Political Buzz | Examiner.com

Al Qaeda Toont Foto Ontvoerde Nederlander - Algemeen - Video - Zie.nl

pictures of the hostages. aqim sent them to pressagency ANI in mauritanie.

The Google translation of the Arabic is a bit ropey but explains why they have turned on Mali after kidnapping elsewhere: for allowing the Moris to attack AQIM bases in Wagadou forest north of Bamako, and for allowing the French military to be based in Menaka.
So any 'pact' speculated about earlier, may have been been broken with the Mali govt, not local factions.

Interestingly, they deny involvement with the Tindouf kidnappings. Wasn't there some 'drug deal gone wrong' revenge theory about that one - or a new, break away AQIM brigade who are more crims than jihadis and so not in the fold? #2 it seems.

Depressing to see another batch in the usual pose. I hope it ends soon for them and all the rest. If any 'arrangement' or understanding with parts of the Mali govt is over, then perhaps it may do.

Ch

There is an FR version of the story
وكالة نواكشوط للأنباء::ونا::

And now it seems like four kidnappers are grabbed.
The kidnappers of two French citizens in Hombori in Mali in November have been arrested on Malian territory according to local security services...
Kidnappers of French citizens in Mali arrested - Mali - France - RFI

Some further information (in swedish) here:
Svenskens kidnappare ställer krav på Sarkozy - Nyheter - Senaste nytt | Expressen - Nyheter Sport Ekonomi Nöje
Both the message from Aqim this weekend (that they have kidnapped 5 persons) as well as the pictures and informations published on internet makes a high probability that it is the same group behind both the kidnapping in Hombori as well as Timbuktu.
Further information later today...
Good news for the inhabitants of northern Mali, Niger and Burkina F. And of course the five victims.

I met with Steven (from SA) and his friend Foke in Rabat when we appleied for Mauri visas.
Then we drove to camping and stay together 2 days made some plans for Mauritania.
After our NDB-Choum route , Atar, crocodiles in Matmata we have back to Nouakchott and we met next time.
Steven wanted to pass along railway but his bike was to heavy.
We talked, drink something, loked some pictures and films from our way.
They wanted to see Matmata but I didn't realized that Steve wanted to visit Timbuktu.
We talked about Bamako and way down. Plans are different and not always right.
The question is where is Foke (Steven's friend)?
Can see the for the first time in my life photograph of the kidnapped man, with which personally I knew himself.
It is very sad.

Bartosz

Bartosz - I've sent you a PM

AQIM have offered to free the South African/British guy in exchange for the freedom of UK-based radical preacher Abu Qatada. The British government has been trying to extradite Qatada to Jordan for years but has been held back by the European court of human rights. AQIM will know that it is highly unlikely that an exchange can take place - less likely even than a ransom being paid. The tension will be made higher in the UK owing to a British Red Cross medic who was kidnapped and then beheaded by the Taliban in Pakistan over the weekend. In summary, given these complications, release from AQIM captivity is becoming more complicated every year and seemingly with each episode. The 2003 releases were positively quick (3 and 6 months) compared with now. All in all it suggests AQIM are not short of cash either. I put these details here as individuals need to weigh these kind of things up when travelling in the broader region.

Why do the Islamists cause so much trouble?

Seem to cause trouble wherever they are.

vette

Hi uk_vette,

some of the answers to your question can be found here:

Roger Scruton:The West and the Rest - Globalization and the Terrorist Threat Continuum

This is so disturbing. I worked in Mali and was looking forward to go back soon. I have such great memories of that country - I can't believe it is getting so messed up so quickly.

Christian

I wonder if at this very moment someone in a Muslim country asks something like "why do Western (colonial and post-colonial) powers and their corporations have cause so much trouble wherever they have been?"

By no means I defending any kidnapping, I'm absolutely again any of those actions and only hope it ends and all these people are released. It's a paradox that maybe in the future these kidnappers may be received as State chiefs, as it so often has happened.

And by no means I want to start any discussion, but just try to ask what they, Muslims/Islamist may think, as the other side of the coin. As a (catholic) Spaniard I cannot say we did not mess anything in South America in the past, for instance, so we all have our guilts.

Unfortunately, these travellers are paying the mess. And unfortunately, things do not seem to get any better.

It would be good to keep this thread's focus on news of those who have been kidnapped. I fear we won't resolve the issues being discussed as they are so complex. What is worth remembering is that the fate of Saharan travel in Algeria, Mali, Niger and parts of Mauritania has basically been determined by a group of about a dozen men for the last ten years. Without those particular characters, and there are probably only 4 or so absolutely key players, things would be entirely different.

Today a video appeared on arabic Aljazeera

Three hostages held by AQIM

The English version came today on Al Jazeera;

Hostages in northern Mali plead for help

4,5 years
 

Though this thread is dead Gustafsson and McGown are still in captivity. I am planning on making a documentary about them and was wondering if any of you guys could put me in contact with people who saw them just before they were kidnapped. This is for research only. Thanks

Kidnapping
 

Oh yes, I would also like to get in contact with the family of the german man who was brutally killed. Thank you for your help.

I met Gustafsson in Senegal about a month before he was kidnapped.

Regards, Sam.

Mc Govn
 

I spent 3 days with Mc Govn in Rabat on camping (waiting for Mauri visa).
We start together on the way south and next we met in Noukchott. I was back from Mauri loop; Mc Govn was before Mali.
I think I have some pictures with him from that time.

Coming up for 5 long years.......

Yeah. Cant find anything in international news but there is dissent amongst the kidnappers where the elders want them released but the young want to keep them.
Johan Gustafsson – Omni
http://imengine.hall.infomaker.io/im...eight=587&q=80
Oeniga kidnappare - Värnamo Nyheter
in Swedish

Gift of the Givers have tried to negotiate their release, explaining that after five years the kidnappers should realize there is no ransom coming, not from Sweden, not from SA and not from the UK. And not from the families.
GotG even went so far as to buy a good number of animals and donate to the villages in the region.
Hoping for a solution soon. Five years!

Let us not forget the AUstralian doctor and his wife who were kidnapped from Djibo in NW Burkina early this year where they had lived and served for 40 years.
Jocelyn Elliot was released shortly after but dr Ken Elliot is still held hostage by AQMI. He is 80.
https://www.facebook.com/StandUp4Elliot/
https://scontent-arn2-1.xx.fbcdn.net...6a&oe=58B62544

AFTER 2000 DAYS SWEDE JOHAN GUSTAFSSON WAS RELEASED TODAY AND IS RETURNING TO HIS FAMILY!
Amazing, totally Amazing. Five and a half years.
Haven't heard about the brit/southafrican yet.
Al-Qaeda frees hostage after six years - BBC News

https://hds.imgix.net/heUN785s91tKys...to=format&q=60

Arrived in Stockholm still wearing the beard.
"Swedish government position is to never pay ransoms" the repeated answer to questions from journalists. Noone come up with the idea to ask by what other means the situation was resolved. Possibly a prisoner release from Mali/Niger mediated by the French DGSE.
The ransom was lowered from €20M to €4M by the organization Gift of the Givers, but they couldn't come up with the money. Then something started to happen about two months ago.
Increasing concerns now for Malcolm McGowan, the remaining hostage.

Stephen McGown in a video along with 5 other hostages.

A Mali-based al-Qaeda affiliate has released a video of six foreign hostages ahead of a visit by French President Emmanuel Macron to the country.
They include a French NGO worker, an elderly Australian surgeon and a Colombian nun.

Hostages shown in al-Qaeda Mali video as Macron flies in - BBC News

Just heard on the news in Namibia. Stephen McGown was released on 29 July 2017.

Good news - a bit more here:
SA hostage in Mali released | News24

As far as I can tell, this release could be said to mark the last of the 'AQIM/pre-Arab Spring' era of Saharan abductions which started in Algeria in 2003 and reached a high point of 5 events a year between 2009-11.

Captives still unreleased from subsequent addictions date back to 2015 and were mostly grabbed from the Sahel.

https://sahara-overland.com/kidnappings/

Oh that's great news!:thumbup1:
British hostages in the Sahara haven't fared so well in the past.
One wonders what it took to get Gustafsson and McGown free.
Chances are we will never know.
https://www.enca.com/south-africa/so...-mali-released

McGown on TV. Looks cheerful; hope it lasts.
South African hostage Stephen McGown describes release - BBC News

Johan Gustafsson held a 50 minute press conference today.
In swedish. Lots of interesting information.
Surprisingly he says they spent several months in Timbuktu, where they recorded videos and took pictures. Most of their captors and guards were young tuaregs or arabs. There were also a few Moroccans and other foreigners, including one Brit. Occasionally a leader who could speak a little French or Arab. The leaders were often Algerian.
He made an escape attempt after the first year. They were not restricted so he could just leave one night, after gathering water bottles and making a plan. He walked two nights and hid two days without finding any traces of anything, no wells or tracks, nothing. Then they found him and he was taken back to the camp.
They changed camps often, and he would build a shack for himself at every camp.
After operation Barkhane started, there was a lot of movement and they hid vehicles and themselves carefully, as every day there were surveillance flights in the air above.
Wounded fighters returned from the front and he understood there had been many casualties from the French led operation. There was also internal strife and regrouping of their captors.
He spent all five years with the McGown. After the first hard year, the rest was relatively easy, as he accustomed himself to the situation. He converted to islam, as it felt natural but also not serious since it was not really done voluntarily. Everyday he followed a routine with a lot of exercise to stay healthy.
He appears to be in very good shape, physically and mentally.
https://www.svtplay.se/video/1474612...t-10-aug-09-50

Thanks for info. I remember reading Fowler's book how they elected to a daily routine of making a few laps of the camp and they were sure it helped keep them sane. But that was only 4 months.

I wonder if that and the 'conversion' make the ordeal more tolerable.

According to Gustafsson the conversion meant that communicating and being with the locals became easier. You have probably heard of the Stockholm syndrome, where the captives start sympathizing with their captors as a logical mental process where survival comes first. Gustafsson seems to have avoided that, keeping his balance, but not bearing grudge against the young guards and collaborating as necessary to make everyday more tolerable. Trying to learn tamasheq and arab. Being allowed to hear the news on the radio and getting and sending messages to family and media. McGown was according to Gustafsson less amicable towards the locals.
We have all wondered what it would be like to be kidnapped, I guess, since it could have been you or me. The first month was the worst, absolutely, since they were beaten badly after several hours rough drive being tied up on the bed of a Landcruiser.
Then twenty days passed before the three of them were given a bucket of water so they could clean up a little. After the first year he felt acclimatized to the environment, the food, the water, the wind and the sand, the heat and cold and his general predicament. The last four and a half years were easier. He said the desert was amazing, and he would look forward to travelling again. Not all of us have the stamina he has shown.
From his story I gather they were kept in the north, not far from Algeria. Perhaps in the same area where we figured Fowler and Guay were kept, in the Tessalit region.
The Dutchman was accidentally found in a building in Tessalit in april 2015.

johan gustafsson on the men who held him hostage
 

FYI...

https://carteblanche.dstv.com/stephe...ded-interview/


.

Some info

the hostages were driven straight to Timetrine after the kidnapping, around 20 hrs drive

then they were moved to north of Kidal.

After Timbuktu fell, they were held in the city for one month, and interviewed by AlJazeera.

Then when Operation Serval started, they were moved to an area between Timbuktu-Araouane and the Maure border, where they spent the remaining 4 years of captivity. They were in the dunes then, which surprised me as there is no forest or mountains there where they can hide. And not far from the enemy troops in TB2.
Hardly any travellers have visited this region over the last ten years, but is there someone here familiar with the terrain?

No but I know someone who will be who is up in that region a lot ... what do you want to know in particular?

Position of waterholes in particular.
Afact there is really nothing there, besides sand dunes and flat desert.

Stephen McGown has come up for air