Two aid workers kidnapped in Mali militant hotspot

Two workers for the International Committee of the Red Cross have been kidnapped in Mali.

The organisation said the abductions took place on a road between the north-eastern cities of Gao and Kidal – an area which has long been a hotspot for violence by Islamist militias.

Mali has been gripped by a security crisis since 2012 and kidnappings are common, with motives including demands for ransom and acts of reprisal against security operations by the government.

Last month in Mali, a World Health Organization doctor was freed weeks after he was kidnapped from his car in the district of Ménaka. And back in May 2022, gunmen abducted three Italians and a Togolese national.

The violence has also spread into neighbouring Burkina Faso and Niger, killing thousands and displacing more than two million people in the region

BBC