Four Yemeni UN employees arrived at Aden Airport on Friday, coming from the UAE on a UN private plane, two days after they were released by al-Qaeda in a deal with the UAE, informed sources reported.
The sources stated that the four Yemeni employees, along with the UN official “Akm Sofol”, Benghali, who is the director of security and safety at the United Nations in Yemen, were received by the Emirati side, who paid the required ransom of three million dollars to the Al-Qaeda organization.
According to the sources, Al-Qaeda kidnapped the director of the UN Office for Security and Safety in Yemen, along with four Yemeni employees, in Abyan Governorate in February 2022, after which the organization demanded three million dollars in exchange for their release.
In this context, activists and media professionals loyal to the Saudi-led coalition confirmed that al-Qaeda’s obtaining the ransom paid by the UAE for the release of the kidnapped UN official falls within the methods of covert support for the terrorist organization by regional and international powers.