KHARTOUM (Reuters) – Three international aid workers from Medecins Sans Frontieres have been kidnapped in Darfur, officials said on Thursday, further complicating humanitarian operations in Sudan’s west.
The three workers from the medical charity’s Belgian arm were seized alongside two Sudanese as tension escalated in Sudan following the International Criminal Court’s decision this month to issue an arrest warrant for Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir over accusations of war crimes in Darfur.
“We can confirm that a group of armed men went to the location and ordered five persons to follow them. They were three international staff and two national staff,” said Kemal Saiki, communications director for the United Nations-African Union peacekeeping force in Darfur, known as UNAMID.
Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) in Belgium said the two Sudanese were quickly released but the three foreigners were still held. It identified them as a Canadian nurse, an Italian doctor and a French coordinator.
“MSF is deeply concerned about their safety and is doing everything it can to determine their whereabouts and ensure their safe and swift return,” an MSF statement said.
Sudan shut down 16 aid organizations 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.
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 mainly desert western region, while Khartoum says 10,000 have died.
Sudan’s foreign ministry condemned the kidnappings, and said the abducted aid workers were thought to be in good health and had not been harmed.
“I promise this conduct will never be repeated. I want to confirm that the government is ready to provide security for all the NGOs,” the head of Sudan’s Humanitarian Aid Commission, Hassabo Mohamed Abd el-Rahman, told reporters. He said he believed money may have been a motive.
MORE VIOLENCE IN DARFUR?
The kidnapping took place in Saraf Omra in north Darfur, where MSF Belgium runs a health clinic and dispensary serving tens of thousands of people, said Susan Sandars, an MSF spokeswoman in Nairobi, Kenya. UNAMID said the kidnapping took place late on Wednesday, while Sudan said it was on Thursday.
Some analysts say the ICC warrant against Bashir could spark more violence in Darfur, where civilians and peacekeepers have been caught in the middle of the conflict. Aid officials have said they feared humanitarian workers could be targeted.
“This is a game-changing scenario,” said one aid worker who declined to be named, referring to the abductions. “If the worse case happens, Darfur is going to be a totally different environment for us.”
Speaking on Wednesday before the abductions, MSF Belgium’s Operations Director Stephan Goetghebuer told Reuters his staff in Darfur had faced growing antagonism in the days after the global court’s announcement.
“MSF has never collaborated with the ICC. Yet, it’s obvious that part of the population in Sudan took these accusations about NGOs very seriously,” he said.
Before the expulsions, the United Nations and aid groups were running the world’s largest humanitarian operation in Darfur. U.N. agencies have said they could not fill the gap left by NGO partners who handed out food, monitored for diseases, and provided clean water and healthcare across Darfur.
In one speech last week Bashir said the expelled groups were “spies and thieves,” and a pro-government newspaper printed a photo of one international aid worker, saying the officer was an intelligence officer for Israel, an arch-foe of Sudan.
(Reporting by Andrew Heavens and Khaled Abdel Aziz in Khartoum, Emma Bath via Alertnet and Philip Blenkinsop in Brussels; Writing by Cynthia Johnston; Editing by Katie Nguyen)
Sudan’s leader cancels trip to Ethiopia: APA
ADDIS ABABA (APA) – Sudanese president Omar al-Bashir, who was expected to arrive in Ethiopia on Wednesday, has cancelled his visit, APA learns here on Wednesday.
Bashir was expected to attend the annual Ethio-Sudanese Joint Committee meeting, originally scheduled to start on Wednesday in Addis Ababa.
The meeting was due to discuss issues related to the two countries’ bilateral cooperation on various fields.
Sources in Addis Ababa told APA that the meeting was to be preceded by a ministerial meeting headed by the foreign ministers of the two countries on while the experts’ committees were to convene on the 7th and 8th of March.
A week ago, a delegation of Sudanese officials was in Addis Ababa holding talks with Ethiopian officials about the preparations for the meeting.
However, while the sources have refused to confirm whether the cancellation of Bashir’s trip to Ethiopia was in connection with the International Criminal Court (ICC) arrest warrant.
Ethiopia, which is not a member of the ICC Rome Statute, strongly indicated its opposition to the arrest warrant for Bashir on seven counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity, which include murder, rape and torture.
However, the meeting is re-scheduled to be held in April 2009 though it is not yet clear if Bashir will be attending.
Since the ICC issued its arrest warrant against President Bahsir, he has not undertaken any official visit outside his country.
