Cops search for aid workers
2009-07-04 14:31
Khartoum - Sudanese security services were searching on Saturday for two kidnapped female aid workers, one Ugandan and one Irish, taken from their compound in Darfur, the women's employer said.
Armed men seized the two workers for the Irish humanitarian group Goal from their base in the north Darfur town of Kutum on Friday evening, in the third abduction of foreign aid staff in the territory in four months.
Goal's Sudan country director Flora Hillis told Reuters she had pulled remaining staff out of the town as Sudanese police started their investigation.
"All relocatable staff are in El Fasher (the capital of north Darfur). It would be impossible to go back to business as usual until this situation is resolved," she said.
"National security and police have set off in the direction that the kidnappers' vehicle was supposed to have taken."
It was the third kidnapping of foreign aid staff in Darfur since March, when the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant for Sudan's president Omar Hassan al-Bashir to face charges of masterminding war crimes in the region.
Aid groups say they have faced increased hostility since the ruling. Sudan's government has accused some aid workers of working as spies for Western governments and Khartoum expelled 13 humanitarian groups after the ICC's decision, accusing them of helping the Hague-based court build up its case.
Goal named the kidnapped women as Hilda Kawuki, 42, from Uganda, and Sharon Commins, 32, from Dublin.
Hillis said the aid group had so far not received any message from the kidnappers or had any news on the condition of its abducted staff.
A spokesperson from the Darfur rebel Sudan Liberation Army (SLA), which is active in some areas surrounding Kutum, denied any involvement and blamed government-backed militias for the kidnapping.
Sudan's ministry of foreign affairs on Saturday dismissed the accusation, saying authorities were doing all they could to locate the kidnappers.
"The government of Sudan has nothing to gain from these activities," said Ali Youssef Ahmed, head of protocol at the ministry.
"The government is following the case closely. It is trying to identify the kidnappers, their whereabouts and what demands they have. The government is keen to secure a safe resolution."
Two groups of foreign aid workers kidnapped in Darfur in March and April were released unharmed.
UN agencies and aid groups are running the world's largest humanitarian operation on Darfur, helping 4.7 million caught up in more than six years of fighting.
Violence surged when mostly non-Arab rebels took up arms against Sudan's government in 2003, accusing it of marginalising the region. Khartoum mobilised troops and mostly Arab militias to crush the rebellion.
Estimates of the resulting death toll range from 1 000 according to Khartoum to 300 000 according to United Nations humanitarian chief John Holmes.