South African hostage Pierre Korkie was hours from release, charity claims

US special forces who tried to rescue hostage Luke Somers from al-Qaida in Yemen were not aware of the identity of the other hostage held with him, according to reports.

Both Somers, a photojournalist, and Pierre Korkie, a South African teacher, were fatally shot by the militants during the raid on Saturday. A senior official in the US administration told the BBC that the rescuers had not been aware that Korkie was being held with Somers.

The US says it launched the raid in southern Yemen because it believed there was an immediate threat to Somers’s life. But a South African charity has claimed that Korkie was hours away from being released.

South African’s biggest opposition party, the Democratic Alliance (DA), called on the government to demand an explanation from Washington over the timing.

Stevens Mokgalapa, the shadow foreign minister, said: “The DA believes that the South African government must urgently engage with American representatives to get to the bottom of the circumstances that led to Mr Korkie’s death, reportedly a day before his captors intended to release him.”

Korkie and his wife, Yolande, were seized by al-Qaida in May 2013. The couple had been in Yemen for four years with two teenage children; he worked as a teacher and she did relief work. Yolande was released without ransom in January after negotiations conducted by Gift of the Givers, a South African charity.

Gift of the Givers continued working for Korkie’s release and believed it was imminent. “The psychological and emotional devastation to Yolande and her family will be compounded by the knowledge that Pierre was to be released by al-Qaida tomorrow,” it said on Saturday.

The charity’s head, Imtiaz Sooliman, said mediators from a tribe in Yemen had convinced al-Qaida to hand over Korkie for a “facilitation fee” of $200,000 (£128,000), after dropping a $3m ransom demand. Korkie’s family and friends were able and willing to pay.

Tribal leaders met in Aden on Saturday morning and were preparing the final security and logistical arrangements to bring Pierre to safety, Sooliman said.

“All logistical arrangements were in place to safely fly Pierre out of Yemen under diplomatic cover, then to meet with family members in a safe country, fly to South Africa, and directly to hospital for total medical evaluation and appropriate intervention.”

Such was his confidence in the arrangements that last week Sooliman told Yolande: “Pierre will be home for Christmas.”

But on Friday night an awful doubt began to set in. Sooliman learned that al-Qaida had issued a three-day ultimatum for the life of Somers. “I knew the Americans wouldn’t allow them to execute him. I said I had a bad feeling something would happen and there’s a possibility that Pierre is going to die.”

Just before 6am on Saturday he felt comfortable enough to send Yolande another message: “The wait is almost over.” But having gone to bed full of hope, Yolande was soon woken by the call she had been dreading. She was informed by a South African police negotiator and the US embassy that Korkie had died in the rescue attempt. His body had been positively identified in photographs.

When Sooliman was told just after 8am, he could not believe it. “I called the Yemeni tribal leaders and they said they didn’t know anything about it.”

He declined to criticise the US intervention, however. “I can’t hold anything against them because any government would act in the interests of their own people. I’m not sure if they knew Pierre was there or not. I can’t blame anybody. This is war and it mostly doesn’t have good outcomes,” he said.

The timing of the Korkie and Somers cases was an unfortunate coincidence, he said. “We were not even sure if they were in the same place.”

Sooliman said Yolande, a devout Christian, also refused to apportion blame. “She’s not even angry with al-Qaida. She’s a very peaceful type of person and says whatever happens is God’s will.”

Yolande was unavailable for comment on Sunday but in a message to Sooliman, she wrote: “We are devastated but I also know you all are devastated. You said in your media statement you salute me, but I wish to return this salute to you and Anas [Hamati, Gift of the Givers’ project director for Yemen] and the tribes. Please accept our deep appreciation for your immeasurable commitment, as well as to Anas and the tribes.

“I am too emotional to speak to Anas right now. But remind him of my words to him in Sana’a: if anything happens, it is NOT his fault. And neither your or the tribes’ fault. We will speak soon, Yolande, Pieter-ben and Lize-mari.”

Hamati told the BBC’s Newshour: “His passport was ready, everything was ready. In that time, the attack happened by US special forces in Yemen and that has destroyed everything.”

Nelson Kgwete, a spokesman for South Africa’s foreign affairs ministry, was quoted by the Sunday Times newspaper as saying Korkie’s imminent release was “just a rumour”. Later on Sunday Kgwete told local television: “This is no time for finger pointing, we are working with the government of the United States as well as the government of Yemen, to ensure that we bring finality to this tragic incident. We recognise that this was an attempt to secure the freedom of Mr Korkie and the hostages who had been kept in captivity.”