Two Chadian health workers have gone missing after being abducted by an armed group that also killed a colleague in the Lake Chad region, according to a statement from The Alliance for International Medical Action (ALIMA), an international NGO active in the area.
“A non-state armed group (NSAG) attacked health personnel” based at Fende 2, a locality in Lake Chad region some 200 kilometres (125 miles) northeast of the capital N’Djamena,” on Saturday, an ALIMA statement said, adding three of the workers managed to escape.
The NGO released an official statement after the United Nations (UN) coordinator in Chad announced the death and kidnapping of “humanitarian” workers from ALIMA-ALERTE SANTÉ.
ALERTE SANTÉ and ALIMA condemned the attack “perpetrated against the health workers who provide humanitarian support to Chadian populations.”
The Alliance for International Medical Action (ALIMA) and Alerte-Santé have collaborated since 2012 on a program to provide medical and nutritional assistance to infants in the region and N’Djamena, offering healthcare services to displaced communities.
Lake Chad which borders Chad, Niger, Cameroon and Nigeria, is a vast area of water and swamps with numerous small islands that serve as hideouts for terrorists such as Boko Haram and the Islamic State in West Africa (ISWAP).
In June, the International Office for Migration (IOM) documented over 220,000 individuals displaced by attacks from armed groups in Lake Chad.