CAIRO: A Sudanese government official yesterday blamed “bandits” for the kidnapping of three foreign aid workers in the restive region of Darfur.
A Canadian nurse, an Italian doctor and a French administrator working with the Belgian branch of Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) were kidnapped at gunpoint on Wednesday.
They were seized in Saraf Umra in North Darfur. The gunmen also kidnapped two Sudanese workers, but later released them.
“The (kidnappers) were bandits,” Ali Yusef, director of protocol at the foreign ministry, told AFP. “There is nothing new,” he said, when asked whether there had been progress in efforts to free the hostages.
An official in Darfur said on Thursday the kidnappers had demanded a ransom.
“They want a ransom in exchange for the victims,” North Darfur Governor Osman Mohammed Yusef Kabir was quoted as saying by the Sudan Media Center, which is close to the intelligence services.
Kabir said he had spoken to the kidnappers by phone and that they “affirmed they don’t want to resort to violence ... However, they demanded a financial ransom to release the victims.”
Another official said the hostages were “OK” and that the government was working to release them. The kidnapping came a week after Sudan ordered out 13 international aid agencies to leave Darfur.
