Red Cross Says Two Workers Kidnapped In Mali Were Released

Dakar, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 20th Mar, 2023 ) :Two International Committee of the Red Cross employees kidnapped in early March in northern Mali were released Sunday evening, the organisation's Malian branch announced on Twitter.

"We confirm that the two ICRC employees kidnapped on March 4 between (the cities of) Gao and Kidal in northern Mali were released this evening," it tweeted.

"Our colleagues are well and have been released unharmed without conditions.

We thank all those who contributed to their release." Mali has been gripped by a security and political crisis since 2012 when militants and separatist insurgencies broke out in the country's north.

Militants associated with Al-Qaeda have escalated their operations into central Mali, and the unrest has spread to neighbouring Niger and Burkina Faso.

Thousands of civilians, police and troops have been killed across the region, and more than two million people have fled their homes.