South African diplomats in Tripoli are following up leads that may help find South African freelance photographer Anton Hammerl, who disappeared in Libya on April 5 while covering the war.
Minister of International Relations and Co-operation Maite Nkoana-Mashabane confirmed on Monday that the government was co-operating with the US and others in trying to trace Hammerl - former chief photographer of the Saturday Star - who disappeared with two American journalists and a Spanish journalist.
She appealed to those holding him captive to release him “so that he could come back to rejoin his family”.
“We also send our prayers to his family and friends during this most trying time.”
The minister said South Africa had closed its embassy in Tripoli after the fighting erupted, but “after the case of Mr Hammerl was reported to us, we sent people back to Libya to investigate his whereabouts”.
“We have partially reopened our Tripoli mission and there are people on the ground following up leads that might help us get access to Mr Hammerl,” she said.
She refused to provide more detail, saying this could put Hammerl’s safety at risk. Hammerl, 41, is now based in London with his wife, fellow South African journalist Penny Sukhraj, and their two sons.
Nkoana-Mashabane said that the special AU high-level panel on Libya, led by President Jacob Zuma, was preparing to re-engage with the Libyan opposition despite their having rejected an AU road map to peace.
The AU Panel visited Libya on April 9 to meet Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi who unconditionally accepted the road map. It calls for an immediate ceasefire and negotiations between Gaddafi and the opposition - the Interim Transitional National Council - for a peaceful political solution to the civil war.
The next day, in Benghazi, the AU panel met the transitional council, which demanded that Gaddafi and his family leave the country before negotiations with his government could begin.
Although the transitional council’s response has been widely interpreted as a flat rejection of the AU road map, Nkoana-Mashabane said it had told the AU panel it would embrace the outline of the road map - on condition Gaddafi and his family left.
The AU panel was looking to continue to engage with the transitional council to discover if it accepted the road map itself. - Pretoria News