Ganchi’s arrest was an attempt to block SA aid convoy from entering into Gaza

Ganchi’s arrest was an attempt to block SA aid convoy from entering into Gaza

Egyptian doctor to help SA convoy also gone missing

By Tahir Sema

South African relief agency Gift of the Givers CEO, Dr. Imtiaz Sooliman reported to the media that when they arrived at the Rafah border, officials took one of the 26 South African doctors, Dr Feroz Abukaker Ganchi away, without giving the team any reasons. "No one said anything and when we asked, they kept asking us what we were talking about. We persisted for three hours until they told us that they had not arrested him but merely taken him to Cairo for questioning".

"Why did they issue a visa if they had a problem with him? Why did they let him go through Cairo? They were just trying to obstruct our trip because the whole team was prevented from crossing on Friday. We only got to Gaza on Saturday," he said.

Dr. Ganchi an emergency medical practitioner at a state hospital in Upington, was with the KwaZulu-Natal-based international humanitarian agency, Gift of the Givers en route to render medical assistance to the war ravaged Gaza strip.

Sooliman added that an Egyptian doctor the team was supposed to meet on their arrival in Egypt had also gone missing. "Doctor Malik Mahamoud has disappeared. He's not answering his phone since Saturday and it is unlike him. His wife is frantic. His crime is helping Palestinian people".

South African charity worker Dr Ganchi, who was detained in Egypt and held for questioning, has now been released. He has been deported and expected to arrive in South Africa on Tuesday.

Foreign affairs spokesman Ronnie Mamoepa said "We want to express our gratitude to the Egyptian authorities for the manner in which they helped to find a speedy and amicable solution to this matter". He declined to say exactly when Ganchi would arrive in South Africa but said he believed he would be back home on Tuesday.

There were concerns that Ganchi's arrest might have jeopardised the humanitarian mission.

Dr Imtiaz Sooliman, head of the group, told the rest of the team yesterday. "I don't want him on this mission any more; he's becoming a distraction," We had spent a lot of time negotiating with officials in South Africa, Egypt and Jordan to get the missing doctor back.

It has been alleged that Ganchi had been accused in the past of having links to the Al-Qaeda. He has also been accused in the past of having links to one of the US's top terror suspects, a Tanzanian accused of bombing the US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania 10 years ago.
Based on media reports Ganchi and Zubair Ismael, a South African student, were part of a group arrested in July 2004 in Pakistan after a 12 hour shoot out with security forces at a house in Gujerat, south-east of Islamabad.

They were arrested with Ahmed Khafan Ghailani, a Tanzanian on the United States list of most wanted people accused of being a top Al-Qaeda operative wanted for the bloody 1998 bombings of the US embassies in Tanzania and Kenya. Ghailani, reported by the western media to be known also as "Foopie" or "Ahmed the Tanzanian" had a US bounty of millions of dollars on his head.

A the time it took weeks before South African foreign affairs officials could get through to the pair, it was widely reported that the men intended to use their training to attack tourist sites in South Africa. A claim which was disputed entirely by Ganchi’s family, the family claimed that the information released by Pakistani interrogators was fabricated.