Kidnapped aid workers were not maltreated, MSF says (Roundup)

Mar 12, 2009, 14:28 GMT

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.