A doctor, Dr. Mahamadou Diawara, employed by the World Health Organisation (WHO) has been kidnapped in eastern Mali by unidentified gunmen, according to a statement released by the U.N on Tuesday.
Dr. Diawara was kidnapped from his automobile on Monday in the eastern town of Menaka, where militants affiliated with al Qaeda and the Islamic State are active. Although they also attacked his driver, the attackers ignored him.
WHO “is working with local authorities to investigate the abduction and ensure our colleague’s quick return to his family,” the statement said.
“Dr Diawara, deployed by WHO in Menaka since the beginning of 2020, has been leading efforts to provide medical care to communities that are often remote and face insecurity risks and violence. The driver of his car was also attacked, but the assailants left him behind, and he is recovering from the incident,” the statement added.
At the beginning of 2020, Diawara was dispatched to Menaka. He has been in charge of coordinating initiatives to deliver healthcare to isolated populations at risk of conflict.
Mali is contending with a raging insurgency that in 2012 appropriated a Tuareg uprising in the north.
Despite expensive international efforts to suppress them, militants have seized large areas of land throughout the Sahel, murdering thousands and uprooting up to 2 million people.