ICRC calls for the release of the kidnapped worker in Sanaa

Dubai: The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has urged the kidnappers of one of its workers in Yemen to release her immediately.

Rima Kamal, the ICRC’s Yemen spokeswoman in Sana’a, told Gulf News that the organisation was “in continuous contact with authorities in Yemen and the different parties that have an influence to [secure the safe] release of our colleague”

Asked if she was referring to the Al Houthi militia when she spoke of the different parties, she replied: “...Sure. All parties in the Yemeni arena.”

According to Rima, the employee whom she refused to name, was kidnapped at around 7am Tuesday along with another man after their ICRC vehicle was intercepted by an unidentified kidnappers. The man, a Yemeni, was released shortly afterwards. But the woman remained in the kidnappers’ custody.

Press reports, however, quoted local officials as saying the employee’s name was Nouran Hawas and that she was from Tunisia.

This is the third incident targeting ICRC in Yemen in a span of several months. Earlier, the committee’s office in Aden was attacked. And in September, two of its employees were shot dead in the northern province of Amran by an unknown attacker.