JOHANNESBURG: A video showing a South African and a Swedish hostage alive in Mali after three years, is a sign that their captors are willing to negotiate, the founder of a South African humanitarian organization said Thursday.

Gift of the Givers, a South African humanitarian organization, has begun efforts to negotiate the freedom of South African Stephen Malcolm McGowan and Swedish citizen Johan Gustafsson, said founder Imtiaz Sooliman. Gift of the Givers was approached by the hostages’ families after the aid group negotiated the release of a South African held in Yemen.

Last month a video was posted online showing Gustafsson and McGowan appealing to their governments to negotiate for their freedom.

The video is a sign that the men’s captors are open to negotiations, said Sooliman.