THE KIDNAPPERS of a Red Cross employee abducted in Darfur in the same week two Goal aid workers were freed following 107 days in captivity have demanded a ransom of at least $1 million in exchange for his release.
Gauthier Lefevre, a dual French-British national who had travelled to Sudan on his French passport, was seized by an armed gang in western Darfur last week. The kidnapping took place just days after Goal workers Sharon Commins (32) and her Ugandan colleague Hilda Kawuki (42) were freed on October 18th.
Mr Lefevre’s abduction marks the fifth kidnapping of foreign aid personnel since the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for Sudanese president Omar al-Bashir in March for alleged war crimes committed during the six-year conflict in Darfur.
“The kidnappers called government authorities . . . and demanded a ransom,” a senior source in Sudan’s intelligence services told Reuters yesterday, adding that the sum demanded was the equivalent of about $1 million.
“This is now a red line. The government will not be paying any ransom,” the source added.
In a later report by Agence France Presse, Sudan’s humanitarian affairs minister Abdul Bagi al-Jailani was quoted as saying the kidnappers had demanded a ransom of $4.5 million dollars. “But we will not pay a ransom, and the same goes for the Red Cross,” he added.
International Committee of the Red Cross spokeswoman Tamara al-Rifai confirmed a ransom had been demanded. “As a policy we don’t pay ransom. We go through our normal channels of dialogue, persuasion and the peaceful resolution of such a crisis,” she said.
Ms Commins and Ms Kawuki were freed after enduring more than three months at the hands of their captors. The two women had been abducted at gunpoint from their compound in the north Darfur town of Kutum on July 3rd.
During their ordeal the women were held in the open air in a mountainous region of Darfur and subjected to mock executions. Their kidnappers made frequent demands for a ransom, but the Sudanese, Irish and Ugandan governments have insisted no money was paid in exchange for the women’s release.
Last week Musa Hilal, a former militia leader who is now an adviser to the Sudanese government, told The Irish Times the kidnappers had received the equivalent of €150,000. Claims to the contrary were “just politicians’ talk”, he said.
Mr Hilal, an influential tribal chief in Darfur, played a key role in securing the women’s release after President al-Bashir asked him to assist in the case.
Mr Jailani, who oversaw negotiations for the release of Ms Commins and Ms Kawuki, insisted no ransom was paid in their case but he acknowledged that funds totalling the equivalent of about €44,000 had been provided to local chiefs during efforts to free the women. The money was supplied to “help and facilitate” the work of mediators, Mr Jailani said. The Irish and Ugandan ambassadors were aware of the payments and offered to contribute, he added.
“It was not a ransom given to the wrongdoers, it was money given for facilitation to chiefs and stakeholders in the area,” Mr Jailani told The Irish Times earlier this week.
He insisted the Sudanese authorities would bring criminal charges against the kidnappers of the Goal workers. Sudan has yet to apprehend any of those responsible.
Mr Lefevre’s kidnapping brings to three the number of foreign personnel being held hostage in Darfur. Two civilians working for the joint UN-African Union mission in the region who were abducted in August remain in captivity.