Kidnappers demand ransom
2009-11-13 19:07
Ndjamena - The kidnappers of a French Red Cross worker in east Chad have demanded a million euros to free him, a source close to the international peacekeeping force in the region said Friday.
"The hostage on Thursday telephoned his superiors in Ndjamena to tell them that people were asking for a million euros ($1.5m) to free him, without giving any more details," said the source, who asked not to be named.
Several armed men on Monday night seized Laurent Maurice, an agronomist who was in east Chad to assess recent harvests, in the village of Kawa, about 10 kilometres from the border with Sudan.
General Oki Daggache, who heads co-ordination with the international force in eastern Chad, has blamed the kidnapping on "crooks from Sudan" and said the kidnappers crossed the border back into Sudan's western Darfur region.
The International Committee of the Red Cross has called for the "rapid and unconditional release of its kidnapped staff member" and said Tuesday that it had temporarily suspended its activities in eastern Chad.
The French foreign ministry has requested Maurice's "release as soon as possible" and said it did not have many details but was "in the process of trying to collect information."
Besides supporting a health centre in the village of Kawa, the ICRC runs other programmes in eastern Chad, including offering aid to those displaced by internal conflict, as well as visiting detainees in prisons.
Aid agencies have reported several attacks in the region in the past year, with bandits often blamed for the violence.
- SAPA