Bangladeshi among five UN staff abducted in Yemen
A Bangladeshi national, AKM Sufiul Anam, is among the five United Nations staff members who have been abducted in southern Yemen, family said.
Sufiul Anam works as a UN security observer in Yemen. Another Bangladeshi top UN official told Prothom Alo, quoting the family.
The top UN official talked to Sufiul Anam’s family on Sunday afternoon. He informed Prothom Alo about the development on behalf of Sufiul Anam’s family.
According to a Reuters report, five UN staff have been abducted in southern Yemen while returning to Aden after a field mission, the UN said on Saturday. However, details of the staff abducted were not disclosed.
Speaking to Prothom Alo, the UN official said Sufiul Anam is a former army officer and has been working at the UN for 20 years. He was with an UN security team in Yemen. The remaining four abductees are Yemen citizens.
Quoting the family, the official said the UN is in regular contact with the family. The UN has collected medical prescriptions that Sufiul Anam requires.
The family has been told that Sufiul Anam is in a good health and he has been taken hostage by a local group, the official added.
The Bangladeshi top UN official said the wife of Sufiul Anam lives in Dhaka. The couple has a son and a daughter, both expatriates. Sufiul Anam, who is over 60, joined the UN 20 years ago and was likely to retire soon.
Prothom Alo contacted an official of the security department at the UN office in Dhaka. Official declined comment.
Russell Geekie, a spokesperson for the top UN official in Yemen, told Reuters the five staff were abducted on Friday in the Abyan governorate "The United Nations is in close contact with the authorities to secure their release," he said.
Yemen has been mired in violence since the Iran-aligned Houthi movement ousted the government from the capital Sanaa in late 2014, prompting a military coalition led by Saudi Arabia to intervene months later.
The war has killed tens of thousands of people and displaced millions others.
This report appeared in the online edition of Prothom Alo and has been rewritten in English by Hasanul Banna