THW-Mitarbeiter im Sudan verschleppt

Bewaffnete entführen zwei Deutsche die mit Hilfsorganisationen in Darfur arbeiteten, gaben UN und Beamte am Donnerstag bekannt. Die letzte einer Reihe von Entführungen welche die Hilfe in dem Gebiet stören.

Die beiden Mitarbeiter der deutschen Regierungsorganisation THW wurden aus ihrem Stützpunkt in der Stadt Nyala verschleppt. Nie zuvor hatten sich Kidnapper in eine der Hauptstädte der Provinz gewagt, versicherten Beamte.

Insgesamt wurden seit März letzten Jahres 17 Mitarbeiter von Hilfsorganisationen oder UN Friedenssoldaten Opfer von Entführungen. Bis auf die letzten beiden Fälle kamen alle unverletzt frei.

Quelle: Andrew Heavens via Reuters

KHARTOUM, June 23 (Reuters) - Armed men have kidnapped two Germans working with aid groups in Sudan's Darfur region, U.N. and aid officials said on Wednesday, the latest in a string of abductions that have disrupted relief work in the territory.

The two men, from German government agency THW, were taken from their compound in Nyala, the capital of South Darfur state -- the first time kidnappers have ventured into one of the region's main cities, officials said.

"Yesterday (Tuesday) evening, seven men, four of them armed with AK-47 rifles, came on foot to the THW compound ... They snatched a Sudanese security guard and two internationals," said the spokesman for Darfur's joint U.N./African Union UNAMID peacekeeping force, Kemal Saiki.

The abductors loaded their captives into a vehicle and released the Sudanese guard outside Nyala, said Saiki. The two German men are aged 34 and 52, Germany's Foreign Ministry said.

A senior aid official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said THW, which provides technical assistance to aid projects, was just days away from leaving South Darfur.

News of an abduction inside one of Darfur's three state capitals will dismay humanitarian groups which have already withdrawn many of their foreign staff from remote locations after a wave of kidnappings.

The abduction comes just over a month after an American woman working for U.S. Christian charity Samaritan's Purse was abducted outside Nyala. She remains in captivity.

A total of 17 foreign aid workers and peacekeepers have now been kidnapped in Darfur since March last year, as well as at least five foreigners seized close to Darfur's border in neighbouring Chad and the Central African Republic.

Apart from the two latest unresolved cases, all captives have eventually been released unharmed.

Aid agencies and the United Nations set up the world's largest humanitarian operation to help millions displaced by fighting that surged in 2003 between Darfur rebels and government troops backed by allied militias.

Sudan's government and aid agencies have denied paying a ransom for hostages. But rumours of large payments are thought to have fuelled the spate of abductions, many of them apparently carried out by young men seeking money.

Aid groups in Darfur reported a surge of hostility against their workers after the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for President Omar Hassan al-Bashir in March 2009 to face charges of ordering war crimes in Darfur.

Bashir accused aid groups of passing information to the court, a charge they denied.

Separately, the state Suna news agency reported Sudan's army clashed with the rebel Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) for a third day running in eastern Darfur on Wednesday.

Source: Reuters