THE IRISH aid worker held hostage for more than 100 days in Darfur has spoken of the relief she felt when she and her Ugandan colleague were finally released in the early hours of yesterday morning.
Sharon Commins, who was abducted in early July, may arrive back from Sudan as early as this afternoon. The Government jet left Dublin for Khartoum yesterday evening and will remain ready to return her to Ireland as soon as she is able to travel.
"It feels just unbelievable, it's like as if the past 3½ months have been like a dream," she told The Irish Timesonly hours after her release. "There was not one day that we weren't fearful and extremely stressed and it's an amazing, amazing feeling to be finally free."
Ms Commins (32) from Clontarf, Dublin, and Hilda Kawuki (42), from Uganda, were abducted at gunpoint after armed men entered their compound in the north Darfur town of Kutum on July 3rd. The two women work for Irish aid agency Goal.
When it became apparent that their release was imminent yesterday, Ms Commins said her first thoughts were of her family.
“I was thinking, my God, I can’t wait to speak to my family. I haven’t spoken to them properly since we got abducted, apart from a two-minute phone conversation last month. And I thought of all my friends. So much was going through my mind . . . It was really exciting.”
The two women have undergone medical checks since their release. “We’re both extremely tired,” she said. “We haven’t slept in ages. We’re living on adrenalin at the moment.”
The kidnappers’ only motive was money, she said. “They had no political agenda. It was purely about money, that’s all they wanted and that’s all they cared about. They would talk about nothing but money. They were extremely poor people trying to make a quick buck.”
Sudanese officials insist no money was given to the kidnappers, despite their demand for a ransom. “To my knowledge, there was no money paid,” Sudan’s minister for humanitarian affairs Abdul Bagi al-Jailani, who has been overseeing negotiations for the women’s release, told The Irish Times.
“The government stated in black and white from the beginning that no money should be handed over.”
Mr Jailani flew to El Fasher, the main town in north Darfur, yesterday afternoon to meet the two women and return with them to Khartoum. He was accompanied by Irish Ambassador Gerry Corr and the Ugandan ambassador to Sudan.
The group is due to arrive in Khartoum early this morning. The Irish Government jet was been dispatched from Baldonnel to bring Ms Commins home to Dublin later today.
Ms Commins said her time in captivity, during which the two women lived and slept in the open air in a mountainous area of Darfur, was extremely difficult.
“We were constantly fearing for our lives, especially in the initial stages when there were constant threats and intimidation. We weren’t sure at all if we were going to get out alive in those first months . . .
“When one of us was in really bad form, the other would try to be more upbeat. We just knew that there was no way our families and governments would allow this to continue.”
Minister for Foreign Affairs Micheál Martin, who travelled to Sudan last month to highlight the case, paid tribute to the women’s “personal courage and resilience” and he also thanked the Sudanese government for its efforts to resolve the situation.
Goal chief executive John O’Shea said he and his colleagues felt “overwhelming relief and joy” at the news.
“I want to express my profound thanks on behalf of all in Goal to the Irish Government and to the Sudanese authorities for the pivotal role they played in securing the release.
“I also want to express my thanks to the Irish people for the prodigious support which they have provided in recent months.”
President Mary McAleese said the women’s ordeal served as a reminder of the commitment made by all aid workers as they carry out their “noble work” throughout the world.