An Irish aid worker and her Ugandan colleague who were taken hostage by gunmen in the Darfur region of Sudan almost two months ago were spotted last Wednesday, a Sudanese government minister has claimed.
A negotiator is said to have seen Sharon Commins, 32, from Clontarf in Dublin, and Hilda Kawuki, 42, while visiting a remote village in Darfur to investigate reports that the aid workers had “married”.
The negotiator was not permitted to talk to Commins or Kawuki, but said they appeared to be in good health.
Abdel Baqi al-Jailani, the Sudanese humanitarian-affairs minister who is overseeing the hostage negotiations, said he was told the women were coping well in the circumstances. “I sent people to the area because we had heard reports that the two ladies had been married, but this was just a rumour,” he said.
“The negotiator didn’t speak to Sharon but saw her, and from his assessment, no marriage had taken place. The women are okay and not in any danger.”
The village where the aid workers are said to have been seen is 50km from Kutum, a remote settlement in north Darfur from where the two were kidnapped. They were in a compound run by Goal, the Irish aid agency.
Al-Jailani said he believed the hostages were living in a small settlement and not being moved around, as the kidnappers had just one vehicle and limited access to fuel.
The Sudanese minister said the authorities were continuing to use tribal elders from the region to secure the release of the hostages. Officials and military personnel had stopped talking directly to the kidnappers for strategic reasons.
“Part of our plan is to show that we have given up as a government. This is to send them a message that no ransom will be provided by the governments of Sudan or Ireland. We have offered these bandits immunity. We want them to know that they have to free the ladies and that is all,” he said. “We are now almost approaching the end of the game, hopefully.” Al-Jailani said the kidnappers are known to the Sudanese military, but no attempt will be made to use force. “That would be plan B,” he said.
“The area where they are being held is lush, and there is plenty of food and water. But it is rough terrain and the kidnappers could hide if they wanted. We will continue to use tribal elders who know the kidnappers to secure the release of the ladies.”
The Commins family in Dublin have been told of the progress being made in the negotiations. Last month, the kidnappers promised to release the hostages but communications broke down.
Al-Jailani said daily phone contacts with the hostages had been stopped in case the kidnappers used the aid workers to exert pressure on the Irish authorities to meet a ransom demand. The two women are permitted weekly phone calls.
“There may be some movement at the end of Ramadan, in about two weeks’ time,” said an informed source. “If the hostages are going to be released soon, it will more than likely happen then.”
Armed gangs began kidnapping foreigners in the region earlier this year after the International Criminal Court ruled that Omar al-Bashir, the Sudanese president, should stand trial for war crimes. Yesterday, two members of a United Nations team were kidnapped in Zalingei, a town in Darfur.
Goal has been working in Sudan for 24 years and runs feeding centres in Darfur. Fighting began in the region in 2003 when rebels launched a revolt against the government in Khartoum. In response, the militia killed 700,000 tribes-people and drove nearly 3m villagers from their homes. John O’Shea, the founder of Goal, and the Department of Foreign Affairs declined to comment yesterday.
حركة العدل و المساواة السودانية
موقع متخصص بنقل آخر الأخبار و البيانات و القرارات لحركة العدل و المساواة السودانية