World

Doctors Without Borders Workers Kidnapped in Darfur

by Blue Crush | March 12, 2009 at 05:19 am

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BREAKING NEWS, March 13th, 4:00 p.m.

All three of the kidnapped workers have been freed, see

Italian Foreign Ministry claiming Darfur aid workers are free.

UPDATE 5:00 pm:

Spokeswoman Marilyn McHarg of the Canadian branch of Doctors with Borders spoke with media in Toronto this afternoon.

"We have managed to have contact with the staff themselves. They were given a phone to use (Wednesday) night.... We did get confirmation that they were OK, they were in good health, that they were together and that they were being well-treated." She added, "there has not been an abduction like this in Darfur before."

The Canadian nurse taken was Laura Archer, originally from P.E.I. but more recently living in Montreal. Italian doctor Mauro D'Ascanio and French field co-ordinator Raphael Meunier were also abducted.

McHarg has stated that no group has yet taken responsibility.

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Five people working for the Belgian branch of Doctors Without Borders' have been kidnapped in the North Darfur region, officials said on Thursday. This follows the revoking of licenses of international aid organizations last week.

They include one Canadian nurse, an Italian doctor, and a French coordinator.

Noureddine Mezni, a spokesman for U.N. peacekeepers in Khartoum, said the employees were abducted from their offices in the Saraf Umra area.

The BBC quoted Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders) officials as saying that a Canadian nurse, an Italian doctor and a French worker were abducted Wednesday. Two Sudanese workers were also taken, but later released.

"Médecins Sans Frontières confirms the abduction last night of three international volunteers in Saraf Umra, in the Sudanese province of North Darfur. Two Sudanese personnel, captured at the same time, were quickly released," said a statement issued in Brussels.

The kidnapping took place Wednesday night, and their families have been informed.

Ali Sadig, a spokesman for Sudan's foreign ministry, told Al Jazeera: "What we know right now is that there is some sort of negotiation between the local authorities and the hostage takers.

"We do not know how far those neogotiations have gone but people are doing their best to ensure the safety and secure the release of the three foreigners."

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Amy Judd

at 07:25 on March 12th, 2009

I wonder if it was the Janjaweed that took them?

Blue Crush

at 07:35 on March 12th, 2009

Here are the BBC and CNN links. So far they don't have much to go on, but BBC's East Africa correspondent Karen Allen says "The area where the aid workers operated is notorious for banditry."