Yemen: Al Qaeda released video of UN worker being held hostage

The jihadist organization Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) has released a video showing a Bangladeshi United Nations worker who was kidnapped in Yemen in February, the American institute SITE, which specializes in monitoring the activity of extremist organizations, announced yesterday Saturday. mainly on the internet.

The UN had announced in February that five of its workers returning to Aden after a “field mission” had been kidnapped in Abyan province (south).

Yemen has been wracked by armed conflict since 2014 between government forces, backed by a coalition led by neighboring Saudi Arabia, and Shiite Houthi rebels, backed by Iran. Various armed organizations, notably Al-Qaeda, also operate in the country.

In the video, a man who says his name is Akam Sofiol Anam, and according to SITE is the “United Nations security director” in Yemen, begs his employer to meet the jihadist group’s demands, which are not yet known.

The hostage emphasizes that his own life and that of his colleagues are in danger and adds that he suffers from “a very serious health problem that needs urgent care”.

AKAH, an organization that was created in 2009, is considered by Washington to be the most dangerous arm of the jihadist network. AKAH has benefited from the chaos caused by the armed conflict in Yemen and is launching attacks against both the Houthis and the government forces.

The group has also claimed responsibility for attacks in the US and Europe, such as the one against the satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo in Paris in 2015, but has suffered several heavy defeats in recent years, losing territory and fighters.

According to the UN, the war in Yemen has killed hundreds of thousands of people, uprooted millions more and two-thirds of the country’s population needs humanitarian aid to survive.

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