KHARTOUM – Three international aid workers from the charity Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) have been kidnapped in Darfur, officials said yesterday, further jeopardising humanitarian operations in western Sudan.
The local governor, Osman Youssef Kebir of North Darfur state, was quoted as saying the kidnappers were demanding a ransom and negotiations could soon lead to their release.
The three workers from MSF’s Belgian arm were seized with two Sudanese as tension rose in Sudan following the International Criminal Court’s decision last week to issue an arrest warrant for Sudan’s president, Omar Hassan al-Bashir, over accusations of war crimes in Darfur.
Mr Kebir, quoted by the online Sudanese Media Centre, said: “Negotiations with the abductors are progressing well and could result in the release of the victims soon.
“The kidnappers demanded a financial ransom and have promised that they are not interested in violence.”
Christopher Stokes, general director of MSF Belgium, told reporters in Brussels: “This will be a further blow to the delivery of humanitarian assistance in that area, so the consequences are also extremely worrying for the population, the civilians of Darfur.”
MSF in Belgium said the two Sudanese were quickly released but the three foreigners were still being held. It identified them as a Canadian nurse, an Italian doctor and a French co-ordinator.
Catholic missionary news agency MISNA gave their names as Laura Archer, Mauro D’Ascanio and Raphael Meonier.
Sudan shut 16 aid organisations after the ICC decision, saying they had helped the court in the Hague, an accusation aid groups deny. Two arms of MSF were among those asked to leave, although MSF Belgium was not among them.
Mr Kebir said the north Darfur authorities had ordered police protection for all offices and residences of foreign organisations operating in the state.
But MSF said it would withdraw most staff from Darfur, where conflict has simmered since mostly non-Arab rebels took up arms against the government in 2003. International experts say at least 200,000 people have been killed in the western region, while Khartoum says 10,000 have died.
Sudan’s foreign ministry has condemned the kidnappings and said the abducted aid workers were thought to be in good health and had not been harmed.
In a speech last week Mr Bashir said the expelled groups were “spies and thieves”. – (Reuters)