Ajit Karn
Dakar, Senegal: Two International Committee of the Red Cross employees were kidnapped in northern Mali on Saturday, the organisation reported, marking the latest abduction in the troubled West African nation.
Since 2012, when separatist insurgencies erupted in the north of the country, kidnappings have been prevalent in Mali, which has been facing a security and political crisis.
Al-Qaeda and Islamic State-affiliated jihadists have intensified their operations in central Mali and the neighbouring countries of Niger and Burkina Faso.
Thousands of civilians, police, and military personnel have been slain throughout the region, and over two million people have fled their homes.
“We can affirm that two of our colleagues were kidnapped this morning,” the ICRC said, adding that the incident occurred between Gao and Kidal in the country’s north.
The ICRC, which has been present in the country for 32 years, reaffirmed that it is “neutral, independent, and impartial” and requested that no speculation be made regarding the incident “so as not to impede its resolution.”
Aminata Alassane, an ICRC public relations officer, stated to AFP, “The ICRC deplores (the incident) and demands the liberation of its collaborators.”
Martin Schuepp, the agency’s newly appointed director of operations, visited Mali last year and reported that “crime is rampant” there, posing a security risk for the organisation.
In spite of this, we are making every effort to reach those in need, even in the most remote regions of the country.
Security problems
In recent months, insecurity has increased in northern Mali, prompting Prime Minister Choguel Kokalla Maiga to cut short a visit to the region in February due to security concerns.
Mali is ruled by a junta that last year compelled France to withdraw anti-jihadist troops stationed there a decade earlier.
In the absence of French personnel, the junta has bolstered government forces with the Wagner group from Russia.
The EU imposed sanctions on the commander of Wagner’s forces in Mali last month, stating that they were “involved in acts of violence and multiple human rights violations, including extrajudicial murders.”
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In some regions of the country, where government control is feeble, kidnappings have become common, with motives spanning from ransom demands to acts of retaliation.
A World Health Organization physician who had been kidnapped in Mali at the end of January was released in February.
In the southeast of the country, armed men abducted three Italians and a Togolese national in May.
Mali’s unrest has expanded to neighbouring Burkina Faso and Niger.
A nun from the United States was abducted by jihadists in April and liberated in August in Burkina Faso.
