Red Cross member abducted in Darfur, Sudan

Thursday, October 22, 2009

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has said one of its staff members has been kidnapped in Sudan's Darfur region. In a statement, the ICRC said that Gauthier Lefevre, a French national, was abducted Thursday near the town of Al Geneina in West Darfur.

It added that Lefevre was traveling in one of two clearly marked Red Cross vehicles when unidentified kidnappers seized him around midday local time. The ICRC said the man "was returning with other ICRC staff to El-Geneina after completing a field trip north of the town to help local communities upgrade their water supply systems." It also said that "he was travelling in one of two clearly marked ICRC vehicles when he was seized a few kilometres [miles] from the town."

The agency said it is working with local authorities to secure the man's release.

Foreign aid groups have faced increased hostility in Darfur since the International Criminal Court indicted Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir earlier this year for alleged war crimes.

Two workers for the Irish aid group GOAL were kidnapped in July and spent three months in captivity before being released last Sunday. Two civilian employees of the joint United Nations–African Union mission in Darfur still remain captive after being kidnapped in August.

Have an opinion on this story? Share it!

Sources

This article includes material from Red Cross Member Abducted in Darfur by VOA News, which is in the public domain.

"Red Cross Member Abducted in Darfur" — VOA News, October 22, 2009
Guillaume Lavallee. "Red Cross says French employee kidnapped in Darfur" — Agence France-Presse, October 22, 2009

Share this:

This page is archived, and is no longer publicly editable.

Articles presented on Wikinews reflect the specific time at which they were written and published, and do not attempt to encompass events or knowledge which occur or become known after their publication.

Got a correction? Add the template {{editprotected}} to the talk page along with your corrections, and it will be brought to the attention of the administrators.

Please note that due to our archival policy, we will not alter or update the content of articles that are archived, but will only accept requests to make grammatical and formatting corrections.

Note that some listed sources or external links may no longer be available online due to age.

The text of this article is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 License