In February, a WHO doctor who had been kidnapped in Mali in late January was freed.
Dakar, Senegal:
Two activists of the International Committee of the Red Cross were abducted in northern Mali on Saturday, the organization said, the latest abductions in the troubled West African country.
Kidnappings are common in Mali, which has been wracked by a security and political crisis since a separatist insurgency began in the country’s north in 2012.
Jihadists linked to al-Qaeda and the Islamic State group have stepped up their operations in central Mali and neighboring Niger and Burkina Faso.
Thousands of civilians, police and soldiers have been killed across the region, and more than two million people have fled their homes.
“We confirm the abduction of two of our colleagues this morning”, the ICRC said, adding that the incident took place between Gao and Kidal in the north of the country.
The ICRC, which has been in the country for 32 years, reiterated that it is “neutral, independent and impartial”, and asked that no speculation be made about the incident “so as not to hinder its resolution”.
“The ICRC condemns (the incident) and demands the release of its colleagues,” Aminata Alsane, an ICRC public relations officer, told AFP.
The agency’s recently appointed operations director, Martin Schuep, visited Mali last year, saying “crime is rife” in the country, which presented a security challenge for the group.
“Despite all this, we are doing everything we can to reach those in distress, including in the most remote areas of the country.”
security crisis
Insecurity has increased in northern Mali in recent months, with Prime Minister Choguel Kokalla Maga cutting short a visit to the region in February due to security threats.
Mali is ruled by a junta that last year forced France to withdraw troops stationed there a decade ago on an anti-jihadist mission.
In the absence of French troops, the junta has brought in Russia’s Wagner Group to bolster government forces.
Last month, the European Union imposed sanctions on the forces headed by Wagner in Mali, saying they “have been involved in numerous human rights abuses, including acts of violence and extrajudicial killings”.
Kidnappings have become common in some parts of the country, with motives ranging from ransom demands to acts of retaliation, as government control weakens.
In February, a World Health Organization doctor who had been kidnapped in Mali in late January was freed.
In May, armed men abducted three Italian and one Togolese national in the country’s southeast.
The unrest has spread beyond Mali to Burkina Faso and Niger.
In Burkina Faso, an American nun was abducted by jihadists last April and released in August.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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