Aid workers 'in good health'

2009-07-08 22:11

Khartoum - Two aid workers kidnapped in Darfur last week have been located and are in good health, Sudanese officials told AFP on Wednesday.

"They are in good health, they are safe," a senior official said on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue.

Gunmen kidnapped Irish national Sharon Commins and Ugandan Hilda Kawuki from the office of the Irish aid group Goal in the North Darfur city of Kutum last Friday night.

A Sudanese guard was also seized but later released.

The location of the two women is now known, Abdel Baqi Gilani, state minister for humanitarian affairs told AFP without providing further details. He also said the kidnap was not politically motivated.

'An irresponsible act'

"They are bandits, they do it to make money. It is an irresponsible act. They came here to help us," he said of the two aid workers.

The kidnapping was the third of foreign aid workers since the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant on March 4 for Sudanese President Omar al-Beshir for alleged war crimes in Darfur.

Senior officials from both Ireland and Uganda arrived in Darfur on Monday to try to obtain the release of the two women.

"We are at the same point as Friday... We are trying to know who did it," said president and founder of Goal John O'Shea by phone from Dublin, declining to comment on the location of the women.

Following the March arrest warrant for Beshir, Sudan expelled 13 foreign non-governmental organisations from Darfur - a decision vehemently criticised by the UN. Khartoum later allowed Western aid bodies in once again.

The Darfur conflict erupted in February 2003 when ethnic minority rebels took up arms against the Arab-dominated Khartoum government and its militia allies.

The UN says up to 300 000 people have died and 2.7 million have fled their homes since the conflict broke out. Sudan puts the death toll at 10 000.

- SAPA