UN officer kidnaped by Al-Qaeda appears in a video

Shafaq News/ On Saturday, al-Qaeda published a video of a team member of the United Nations mission in Yemen who was kidnapped more than six months ago.

Akam Sophiol Anam, the head of the UN Office for Safety and Security in Yemen, confirmed in the video that he was abducted with other colleagues on February 11 last in Abyan while returning to Aden after a field mission.

He indicated that he suffers from a "critical health condition" and needs urgent health care.

Anam called the United Nations to meet the demands of al-Qaeda to release him.

Last February, five United Nations employees were abducted by Al-Qaeda in southern Yemen while returning to Aden after a field mission.

The staff was abducted in the Abyan governorate, a spokesman for the top UN official in Yemen said.

Abductions are frequent in Yemen, where armed tribe members and al-Qaeda-linked armed fighters take hostages to swap for prisoners or cash.

Among Yemen's many factions, al-Qaeda and the ISIS armed group have carried out attacks in the past, including in the south, which last year saw protests over deteriorating economic conditions.

The war in Yemen has killed tens of thousands of people and caused a dire humanitarian crisis, with 80 percent of Yemen's population reliant on aid.