Members of Huthi-affiliated security forces stand guard as supporters of Yemen's rebel movement take to the streets of Sanaa on March 7, 2022 during a demonstration against the economic blockade imposed by the United States and Saudi Arabia on Yemen.
(MOHAMMED HUWAIS / AFP)
ADEN, Yemen – Yemeni authorities said on Monday that four workers of the international medical charity Doctors Without Borders (Medecins Sans Frontieres/MSF) were kidnapped by suspected al-Qaida gunmen in the country's southeastern province of Hadramout.
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"Gunmen suspected of belonging to the al-Qaida terror group kidnapped four foreign employees of MSF on March 5 in Hadramout," an official of Yemen's intelligence authorities told Xinhua.
The gunmen set up an ambush and intercepted the aid workers when they were travelling from Seiyun city in Hadramout Province toward the oil-rich province of Marib, the source said on condition of anonymity
The gunmen set up an ambush and intercepted the aid workers when they were travelling from Seiyun city in Hadramout Province toward the oil-rich province of Marib, the source said on condition of anonymity.
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The four kidnapped were identified "as Chrisstan Gustolf of Germany, Cindar Fernado of Mexico, Aidah Hamed of Syria, and Catherine Wen Sirua of Kenya," whose fate still hangs in the balance, according to a statement by Yemen's Interior Ministry.
Last month, Russell Geekie, senior communications advisor to the UN resident and humanitarian coordinator for Yemen, confirmed that five UN staff members were kidnapped in Abyan Province "after having completed a field mission."
The UN staff members are still held by unknown gunmen as a mediation conducted by local tribal figures failed to get them released despite a series of negotiation rounds with an armed group responsible for the kidnapping incident.
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So far, no one has claimed responsibility for the two kidnapping incidents.