1. Home
  2. East Africa
  3. Burundi

Three South Africans captured

Three South Africans allegedly captured and tortured by soldiers in the DRC, at the weekend told how they had each been marched into a room and “sentenced to death”. Hans Blunk, Sue Davis-Erasmus and Dirk van der Dussen, who had been held captive since last Tuesday after being arrested at the border post for being in possession of cameras, were told they would be shot, the South African news agency (SAPA) reported. Soldiers accused them of being spies. “We were told they would take us to the airport and shoot us in front of the aeroplane...They said our bodies would be shown on TV because we were spies,” SAPA quoted Davis-Erasmus as saying. They were released on Friday after a business associate reportedly paid a large sum of money to their captors.

This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions

Share this article

Get the day’s top headlines in your inbox every morning

Starting at just $5 a month, you can become a member of The New Humanitarian and receive our premium newsletter, DAWNS Digest.

DAWNS Digest has been the trusted essential morning read for global aid and foreign policy professionals for more than 10 years.

Government, media, global governance organisations, NGOs, academics, and more subscribe to DAWNS to receive the day’s top global headlines of news and analysis in their inboxes every weekday morning.

It’s the perfect way to start your day.

Become a member of The New Humanitarian today and you’ll automatically be subscribed to DAWNS Digest – free of charge.

Become a member of The New Humanitarian

Support our journalism and become more involved in our community. Help us deliver informative, accessible, independent journalism that you can trust and provides accountability to the millions of people affected by crises worldwide.

Join