A World Health Organization (WHO) doctor kidnapped on January 23 in the northeastern Malian town of Ménaka was released on Thursday in Gao, some 300 kilometers away, according to official and United Nations sources quoted Friday by the French radio station Radio France Internationale.
The man, identified as Mahamadou Diawara, was abducted by unidentified armed men as he was driving a vehicle. For the moment there are no details on the conditions of his release in the area, where jihadist groups operate.
Diawara has been working at the UN agency’s office in Menaka since early 2020. WHO detailed after the event that the driver of his car was assaulted during the event. For the moment there has been no claim of responsibility for the abduction, which took place two months after the kidnapping in Gao of a Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) worker, who was later released.
Mali, like other Sahel countries, has been experiencing in recent years an increasing number of jihadist attacks by both Al Qaeda’s affiliate in the region and the Islamic State, which has also led to an increase in inter-community violence and the displacement of tens of thousands of people.
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)
