Darfur gunmen seize 31

KHARTOUM: Gunmen in Sudan’s Darfur seized 31 displaced people traveling to a conference, peacekeepers said yesterday, highlighting the insecurity of 1.4 million people uprooted by the region’s decade-old conflict.
“A convoy of three commercial buses carrying 31 internally displaced persons and escorted by UNAMID peacekeepers was stopped by a large unidentified armed group in military uniforms and seven jeep-mounted guns,” said Aicha Elbasri, spokeswoman for the African Union-UN Mission in Darfur.
“Despite UNAMID opposition, the armed group forced the IDPs to an unknown location,” said Elbasri, condemning the action of the gunmen.
The peacekeepers were unharmed in the incident, which happened at about 6:20 p.m. (1520 GMT) on Sunday at a border crossing between Central and South Darfur states.
Elbasri added that while some information says the captives were released, official government sources have not confirmed this.
“Some of them are safe,” Abdulbagi Ahmed Suliman, media director of Darfur’s Voluntary Return and Resettlement Commission, told AFP from the main South Darfur city of Nyala.