UN pledges to find aid workers

2009-07-07 18:22

Dublin - UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon insisted on Tuesday that the world body would "spare no efforts" in trying to find two aid workers kidnapped in the troubled Darfur region of Sudan.

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 on Friday night. A Sudanese guard was also seized but later released.

"I'm sorry and concerned that your national has been kidnapped in Sudan," Ban said, speaking outside the Government Buildings in Dublin, following talks with Irish Prime Minister Brian Cowen.

"I assure you that we will spare no efforts in providing the necessary support and co-operation - in terms of logistics, in terms of collecting information, in terms of working together with the Sudanese government - to first of all identify and locate and then try to have a safe return of your national."

Cowen said he had given an update on the situation to Ban, who was making his first official visit to Ireland as head of the UN.

Cowen said UN personnel in Sudan had been "most helpful" in making sure that Ireland had the necessary facilities and contacts "as we make our best efforts, first of all to identify those who have done this kidnap, and secondly how we can secure their release as a result".

He said Foreign Minister Micheal Martin was being regularly briefed.

Friday's 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.

- SAPA