BAMAKO: Four Moroccan truck drivers, who were kidnapped in January in West Africa by the Daesh group and held captive for months, were released late Sunday, Malian authorities said.
The truckers were traveling 3,000 miles to transport electrical equipment from Casablanca to Niamey, the capital of Niger, before they were reported missing on January 18, 2025, in northeastern Burkina Faso, near the border with Niger.
The Malian government said in a statement read on public television late Monday the truck drivers were released “safe and sound” Sunday evening.
It added the four were held by the Islamic State in the Sahel Province, a subgroup of the Islamic state group. Malian public television showed video of the drivers wearing traditional Malian clothes in the company of junta leader Gen. Assimi Goïta.
The Malian government said their release was made possible thanks to the coordinated efforts between Mali’s National State Security Agency and Morocco’s foreign intelligence service.
Mali, along with neighboring Burkina Faso and Niger, has for more than a decade battled an insurgency by armed groups, including some allied with Al-Qaeda and the Daesh group. Following military coups, the three countries expelled French forces and turned to Russia’s mercenary units for assistance, but the security situation has been deteriorating.
In May, extremist fighters abducted two Chinese nationals during an attack on an artisanal gold mining site in Mali.
In February, Moroccan authorities said they arrested a dozen people who were planning attacks on behalf of the Islamic State in the Sahel Province subgroup.
Morocco has worked to present itself as a regional leader and is forging deeper ties with countries in the Sahel. Foreign ministers of landlocked Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso said they were backing a Moroccan initiative granting them access to the Atlantic ocean using its ports.
Last year, Rabat mediated the release of four French intelligence agents held in Burkina Faso.
Morrocan truck drivers kidnapped by Daesh group released in Mali
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Morrocan truck drivers kidnapped by Daesh group released in Mali
- The Malian government said in a statement read on public television late Monday the truck drivers were released “safe and sound” Sunday evening
WHO alarmed by health workers, civilians ‘forcibly detained’ in Sudan
- The WHO counts and verifies attacks on health care, though it does not attribute blame as it is not an investigation agency
GENEVA: The World Health Organization voiced alarm Tuesday at reports that more than 70 health workers and around 5,000 civilians were being detained in Nyala in southwestern Sudan.
Since April 2023, Sudan’s regular army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) have been locked in a brutal conflict that has killed tens of thousands of people, displaced 12 million more and devastated infrastructure.
“We are concerned by reports from Nyala, the capital of Sudan’s South Darfur state, that more than 70 health care workers are being forcibly detained along with about 5,000 civilians,” WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on X.
“According to the Sudan Doctors Network, the detainees are being held in cramped and unhealthy conditions, and there are reports of disease outbreaks,” the UN health agency chief said.
The RSF and the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North faction allied earlier this year, forming a coalition based in Nyala.
“WHO is gathering more information on the detentions and conditions of those being held. The situation is complicated by the ongoing insecurity,” said Tedros.
“The reported detentions of health workers and thousands more people is deeply concerning. Health workers and civilians should be protected at all times and we call for their safe and unconditional release.”
The WHO counts and verifies attacks on health care, though it does not attribute blame as it is not an investigation agency.
In total, the WHO has recorded 65 attacks on health care in Sudan this year, resulting in 1,620 deaths and 276 injuries. Of those attacks, 54 impacted personnel, 46 impacted facilities and 33 impacted patients.
Earlier Tuesday, UN rights chief Volker Turk said he was “alarmed by the further intensification in hostilities” in the Kordofan region in southern Sudan.
“I urge all parties to the conflict and states with influence to ensure an immediate ceasefire and to prevent atrocities,” he said.
“Medical facilities and personnel have specific protection against attack under international humanitarian law,” Turk added.
