Negotiations with the kidnappers of the Irish aid worker and her Ugandan colleague in Darfur are progressing well, and officials have established regular contact with the abducted women, according to a Sudanese government minister.
"I think we may have good news soon ... People are negotiating with them now," the state minister for humanitarian affairs Abdel Baqi al-Jailani said today.
Up to eight armed men seized the two workers for Irish aid group GOAL from their compound in the north Darfur town of Kutum on Friday, July 3rd.
Irish negotiators and government officials have sent teams to Khartoum and El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur, to help free the women, Sharon Commins (32), from Dublin and Hilda Kawuki (42) from Uganda.
"The two ladies are in contact with the mission in El Fasher every day. They are being very brave and dealing with the situation they are in," al-Jailani told Reuters.
"The government is committed to a peaceful solution and is giving the kidnappers a lot of time. I am sure it will work, based on our past experience." The minister earlier said the kidnappers were bandits, hoping to get a ransom.
Aid workers say they have faced increasing hostility in Darfur since the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant against Sudanese president Omar Hassan al-Bashir in March, accusing him of orchestrating atrocities in the region.
Reuters