AUTHORITIES IN Sudan have located the area where they believe the Irish aid worker abducted last week with her Ugandan colleague is being held, a Sudanese government minister has told The Irish Times.
Sharon Commins (32), from Clontarf, Dublin, and Hilda Kuwuki (42), both of whom work for Irish aid agency Goal, were seized by up to eight armed men who forced their way into the Goal compound in Kutum, a town in north Darfur, on Friday evening.
“We have been able to locate the area where they are, and we are communicating with the local administration in this area, as well as people with knowledge of the area,” Sudan’s minister for humanitarian affairs, Abdul-Bagi Al-Jailani, said in a telephone interview last night. Mr Al-Jailani said all indications suggest the two women remain in good health.
“Our priority is to see these ladies released safely,” he said. “We are committed to achieving a positive outcome.”
Mr Al-Jailani dismissed as speculation media reports in Khartoum and Uganda claiming those holding the two women had asked for a ransom.
“This is just people speculating. We are not in a position to say anyone has asked for money.”
The abduction marks the third time foreign humanitarian workers have been kidnapped in Darfur in four months. Two groups of aid personnel kidnapped in March and April were released unharmed.
Sudanese officials say they have no information as to the precise identity or motive of those responsible for this abduction.
Speaking in Dublin yesterday, UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon insisted the UN would “spare no efforts” in trying to find the two women.
An Irish delegation of diplomats and negotiators flew out to the Sudanese capital Khartoum at the weekend to assist in efforts to secure the women’s release. They have held meetings with high-ranking Sudanese officials as well as representatives from other embassies whose citizens have been abducted in the past.
Sudan’s ambassador to the UK, Omer Mohamed Ahmed Siddig, arrived in Dublin yesterday for a pre-planned official visit. He will discuss the case with Minister for Foreign Affairs Micheál Martin. Mr Siddig says he also plans to visit Ms Commins’s family during his time here.