Two German aid workers abducted in Darfur

[Ulrich]

KHARTOUM June 23 (Reuters) - Unknown men kidnapped two German aid workers in Sudan's Darfur region on Tuesday, an aid official said, in the latest in a string of abductions that has disrupted relief work in the territory.

"They entered the compound in Nyala (capital of South Darfur) in the early evening and they took the two hostages. This is the first time someone has been kidnapped inside a state capital," said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity.

The official said the two German men were working for Technisches Hilfswerk (THW), a German government agency providing technical assistance to other aid projects that was just days away from pulling out of South Darfur state because of a lack of funding.

News of an abduction inside one of Darfur's three state capitals will dismay humanitarian groups which have already withdrawn many of their foreign staff from remote locations after a wave of kidnappings.

Aid agencies and the United Nations set up the world's largest humanitarian operation to help millions displaced by fighting that surged in 2003 between Darfur rebels and government troops backed by allied militias.

The aid official said the kidnappers also took a Sudanese guard at the Nyala compound but released him soon afterwards. (Reporting by Andrew Heavens; Editing by Giles Elgood)

Reuters - Two German aid workers abducted in Darfur

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[Ulrich]

"Yesterday (Tuesday) evening, seven men, four of them armed with AK-47 rifles, came on foot to the THW compound ... They snatched a Sudanese security guard and two internationals," said the spokesman for Darfur's joint U.N./African Union UNAMID peacekeeping force, Kemal Saiki.

The abductors loaded their captives into a vehicle and released the Sudanese guard outside Nyala, said Saiki. The two German men are aged 34 and 52, Germany's Foreign Ministry said.

Reuters - UPDATE 3-Two Germans abducted in Sudan's Darfur

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