Kidnappings of foreign aid workers have been on the rise in
Darfur since 2009, following an international arrest warrant against Sudan's
president for alleged war crimes in Darfur.
The identity of the kidnappers is unknown and there has been
no contact with the men who were abducted late Tuesday, said Chris Cycmanick,
spokesman for the UN-African Union peacekeeping mission in Darfur.
The German Foreign Ministry said two men working for the Technisches
Hilfswerk, a state agency doing development work, have been missing in Darfur
since Tuesday.
The men are 34 and 52, foreign ministry spokesman Andreas Peschke
told reporters in Berlin.
Cycmanick said seven gunmen, including four men carrying automatic
rifles, entered the residence of Technisches Hilfswerk group in Nyala, the
capital of south Darfur.
There were no reports of gunfire.
A Sudanese security guard who was briefly abducted was being
questioned by the Sudanese authorities.
Kidnappers mostly have demanded ransom in recent cases, but
some have made political statements.
Four UNAMID peacekeepers were abducted in April just outside
of Nyala for 16 days, during Sudan's first nationwide multiparty elections.
The kidnappers, members of a small rebel group, said they abducted
the peacekeepers to prove that security in Darfur was not good enough to hold
the vote. The elections were widely criticized by Sudanese opposition and rebel
groups.
UN officials say at least 300,000 people have lost their lives
from violence, disease and displacement, and 2.7 million have been driven from
their homes.
Violence has largely subsided in Darfur over the last year,
but a recent spike followed the April elections. Five peacekeepers were killed
since May in attacks by gunmen.
On Wednesday, the army and rebels reported clashes over the
past three days in central Darfur. Both sides claimed to have inflicted dozens
of casualties, but the accounts could not be independently confirmed.
