Militant Islamists with ties to al-Qaeda have released a South African paramedic who was kidnapped in Libya over six years ago, according to a statement from the charity Gift of the Givers.

The organization facilitated the "unconditional" release of Gerco van Deventer, who is described as the longest-held South African hostage.

Van Deventer was abducted by an unidentified group in Libya in 2017, subsequently sold to militant Islamists in Mali in 2018, and has now been released in Algeria, as reported by the charity.

A Malian security source confirmed his freedom, and the paramedic, aged 48, underwent a check-up at a hospital in Algeria following his release. Gift of the Givers expressed anticipation for the next steps in Van Deventer's health and arrangements for his reunion with his wife Shereen and son Asher, noting the six years of prayer, patience, and hope involved in his ordeal.

Van Deventer was an emergency paramedic who was working for a security company when he was seized on 3 November 2017, while on his way to a power plant construction site around 1,000km (600 miles) south of Libya's capital Tripoli.

Three Turkish engineers who were abducted with him were freed about seven months later, but he remained in captivity.

In March his family made a fresh plea for his release.

Gift of the Givers has been involved in previous efforts to free Van Deventer and other hostages held in the Sahel region.

The charity said the al-Qaeda affiliate, Jama'at Nasr al-Islam wal Muslimin, had asked for a ransom of $3m (£2.4m) in 2018, and the charity negotiated the amount down to $500,000.

However, Van Deventer's family and employer could not afford the amount, and the militants finally released him "unconditionally" on Saturday, it added.

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 power 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 following a coup in the West African state and growing unpopularity over its military operation.

Now Russia's notorious mercenary Wagner group has been hired by Mali's military junta to fight the militants.

Congrats to him