Two South Africans, a Russian and a Ukrainian working for the UN were freed earlier today after militants stormed the Hotel Byblos in Sevare yesterday. There is still no information about the fate of civilians, including foreign nationals, who were in the hotel at the time of the attack. The South African was a 38-year-old pilot from Pretoria.
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Radhia Achouri, the UN’s spokeswoman for MINUSMA (the organisation’s mission in Mali), confirmed that the four freed people are UN employees who will be flown to the Bamako.
A French foreign ministry official said Paris was attempting on Saturday to verify whether any of its citizens had been among the hostages.
Mali’s government said seven suspects also were arrested in connection with the militant attack, which was launched in the early morning hours of August 7. “The attackers did not detect their presence in the hotel and MINUSMA was in permanent contact with them throughout the attack and until its end”, it added.
Whitehouse said the attack was likely intended “to signal all Malians everywhere that neither their government nor the United Nations can keep them safe”, but he noted the rapid response by Mali’s forces.
A Ukrainian hostage managed to escape from the hotel and said up to five gunmen had led the hostage-taking in Sevare, which lies 620 kilometres (385 miles) south of the capital Bamako.
UN soldiers have been helping to keep the peace in Mali but have continued to come under attack from Islamic militants.
They will now be flown to the Malian capital Bamako.
Contradictory reports emerged Saturday regarding the number of people killed.
Attacks by extremists on Malian army positions have moved into central and southern Mali this year.
The group had claimed responsibility for two previous attacks in northwestern and southern Mali on June 27 and 28 respectively, in which a total of six people were killed.
Mali, a French colony until 1960, has been in turmoil since a 2012 military coup, after which separatist tribes seized control over vast territories in northern Mali, and later, various Islamist groups started to operate in the country.
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The attack well south of the Islamic militants’ Saharan desert strongholds highlights the threat posed by remnants of an Al-Qaida-linked insurgency that appears to be stepping up a campaign against Malian troops and United Nations personnel.
