Paris/Brussels - The three Western aid workers kidnapped in
the strife-torn Sudanese province of Darfur were not maltreated
during their abduction, officials from the charity Doctors Without
Borders (MSF), for whom they work, said in Brussels on Thursday.
'We have had contact with one of our colleagues since the
abduction: they were in good health. We had contact with them last
night ... We have had no further contact since last night,' said
Christopher Stokes, director general of the charity's Belgian branch.
He refused to give more details of the conversation, saying that
it could damage negotiations with the kidnappers.
Stephan Goetghebuer, director of operations at MSF Belgium, added,
'they received food and were well treated during the kidnapping and
while they were moving around in a car.'
As a safety precaution, MSF was pulling all of its teams out of
Darfur back to the Sudanese capital Khartoum, Stokes said. Only those
who could help to set their colleagues free would be left.
'Our first preoccupation is the liberation of our colleagues and
for their security,' he said.
The kidnapping took place on Wednesday evening at 8.50 pm (1750
GMT), when an armed gang broke into a medical centre at Sharif Umra
run by MSF Belgium and seized five staff members: the French head of
the centre, an Italian doctor, a Canadian nurse and two local guards.
One of the guards was released an hour later some 20 kilometres
from the scene of the attack in the western part of North Darfur. The
second was released around 20 km further on, Goetghebuer said.
MSF said in a statement released in Paris that the families of
those kidnapped had been notified. No group has apparently yet taken
responsibility for the abductions.
'We have no more information about the motivation. We know the
Sudanese authorities have stated that the motivation is money, we
cannot confirm nor deny that information,' Goetghebuer said.
The situation for aid workers in Darfur became tense after the
Sudanese government ordered all aid organizations to leave the region
on February 5. That order was made in response to a decision by the
International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague to issue an arrest
warrant for Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir.
However, Stokes said that MSF has 'no information which would
allow us to make a link' with the ICC case. The organization had
already pulled out of the areas covered by the ban, he said.
'MSF has been working with medical teams here for many years. This
incident is unprecedented for us in this region,' he said.
The Sudanese government pledged 'a maximum of support' to help
free the three abductees, he said.
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