Two employees of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) kidnapped two weeks ago in northern Mali were released on Sunday evening "
safe and sound
", announced the Malian branch of the NGO on Twitter.
“
The two ICRC staff kidnapped on March 4 between (the cities of) Gao and Kidal (northern Mali) were released this (Sunday) evening
,” the Malian branch of the ICRC announced on Twitter.
“
Our colleagues are doing well and have been released unharmed and unconditionally
,” she said.
The NGO "
thanks all those who contributed to their release
", without further details.
Security crisis
Mali is in the grip of a security crisis, triggered by a regional uprising in the north that turned into a jihadist insurgency.
The violence that has shaken this Sahelian country since 2012 is the work of jihadists linked to Al-Qaida and the Islamic State group, but also self-proclaimed militias and bandits.
Read alsoDoubts grow in Germany over military engagement in Mali
The unrest has spread to neighboring Burkina Faso and Niger.
Thousands of civilians, police and military have been killed in the region, and more than two million people have fled their homes.
In Burkina Faso, an American nun who was kidnapped by jihadists last April was freed in August.
In February, a World Health Organization (WHO) doctor who had been kidnapped in late January in Mali was released.