By Vision Reporter and Agencies
Sudanese security services have pinpointed the area where armed men are holding a Ugandan and Irish aid workers abducted in Darfur, but have yet to contact the kidnappers, a government minister said on Wednesday.
British and French diplomats, who have worked on hostage situations, have offered advice and support in securing the victims.
Irish foreign affairs minister Michael Martin revealed yesterday that Britain and France were assisting Sudan in the hunt for Sharon Commins and Hilda Kawuki, now in the fifth day as hostages.
Up to eight men seized the workers for Irish aid group GOAL, from their compound in the north Darfur town of Kutum on Friday, the third kidnapping of foreigners in the remote western region in four months.
“The information that I received this morning is that the area where these people are hiding has been located,” Sudan’s state minister for humanitarian affairs Abdel Baqi al-Jailani told Reuters.
“There is still no contact, but I am optimistic we will see progress soon.”
Al-Jailani declined to name the area for fear of jeopardising negotiations.
He added that security forces had also asked local Darfuri leaders to try to persuade the abductors to release the captives.
“They will have their own ways and means to track down the exact location,” he said. “Priority number one for us is the safety of the two ladies.”
No one was immediately available to comment from GOAL.
The NGO has suspended operations in the area.
A branch of Darfur’s rebel Sudan Liberation Army, active in the territory, earlier this week denied any involvement and accused government-backed militias of abducting the women, saying Khartoum wanted to intimidate foreign aid groups.
Khartoum, however, dismissed the allegations.
The six-year conflict has pitted pro-government militias against mostly non-Arab rebels, who took up arms in 2003 over neglect.
حركة العدل و المساواة السودانية
موقع متخصص بنقل آخر الأخبار و البيانات و القرارات لحركة العدل و المساواة السودانية