Negotiators bid to contact aid workers' kidnappers
Hostage negotiators were today trying to make contact with armed kidnappers who abducted an Irish aid worker and her colleague in war-torn Sudan.
There has been no contact from Sharon Commins, 32, from Dublin, and Ugandan Hilda Kuwuki, 42, since their capture at a compound in the town of Kutum, northern Darfur, on Friday.
A security guard, who worked with the pair for charity Goal and was thrown from captors’ car as they fled with the two women, was being interviewed.
Goal chief executive John O’Shea said he told the investigation team that six men armed with AK-47 assault rifles also took mobile phones and a computer belonging to the aid agency.
“That suggests to us – but I can only say suggests – that they might be interested in having our contact details,” he said.
“It gives us a little hope that they will make contact.
“Because obviously if we are not able to find them, we would like them to find us.”
The Irish Government delegation, led by the Ambassador to Egypt Gerard Corr, arrived in the Sundanese capital Khartoum this morning, where it does not have an embassy.
Mr Corr said the team included negotiators.
Some of the delegation are holding talks with embassies and authorities in Khartoum while others trained to deal with hostage situations have travelled onto Darfur.
The Irish Ambassador to Uganda Kevin Kelly is also in talks with the government there.
Mr O’Shea said they still did not know who was behind the abductions, with so many warring factions in the region, and that it was impossible to predict when there might be contact from the kidnappers.
The aid agency chief said there was no Goal policy on ransoms.
“I’m concerned only with getting the two lassies back to the bosoms of their families as quickly as possible,” he added.
“That’s all that’s in my mind at the moment.”
Goal, which has 1,600 people working on humanitarian projects in Sudan, has pulled its remaining workers from the Darfur region until Ms Commins and Ms Kuwuki are found.
They were taken from their centre in Kutum on Friday evening at approximately 8.30pm local time by six armed men who forced them into a vehicle along with their Sudanese security guard.
The guard was later thrown from the vehicle as local police gave chase.
Ms Kuwuki is an expert in nutrition and Ms Commins, who has been in Sudan a year-and-a-half as project manager and report writer, is a former press officer for the humanitarian relief group in Dublin.
She obtained a Masters in international relations from Dublin City University (DCU).
Officials from Ireland’s Department of Foreign Affairs are also in touch with the UN and British counterparts.
Goal has been working in Sudan for the past 24 years and runs clinics, schools and feeding centres open to all.
The area where the group operates has been peaceful. A total of 13 other aid agencies were evicted from Darfur several months ago but Goal had remained unaffected.
It is the third kidnapping of foreign humanitarian workers since March.
President Mary McAleese and Foreign Affairs Minister Micheál Martin have both appealed for the safe return of Ms Commins and Ms Kuwuki.
