Aid Workers Released in Darfur

Two aid workers kidnapped by armed men in July in the Darfur region of Western Sudan have been released, after an ordeal which lasted more than 100 days.

Sharon Commins, 33, from Ireland, and Hilda Kuwuki, 42, from Uganda, workers with the Irish-based international humanitarian agency GOAL, were kidnapped by men on July 3 who it is believed carried out the kidnappings with ransom money in mind rather than any political motives. However, according to the Associated Press, Sudan's state minister for humanitarian affairs, Abdel-Baqi al-Jailani, who had first suggested that financial gain was the motive for the kidnappings, has confirmed that no ransom money was paid and said that between them local and federal government officials, as well tribal leaders in the area, had secured the release of the women. John O’Shea, CEO of GOAL, denied that the payment of a ransom was involved in the women's release, with the Irish Department of Foreign Affairs refusing to provide details of the deal which actually secured their freedom. Mr al-Jailani also indicated that Ms Commins and Ms Kuwuki, who were released on either Saturday or Sunday, the Associated Press says the former and Reuters and GOAL say the latter, are in good health and headed for el-Fasher, the capital of North Darfur, after being freed. A statement on the GOAL website has placed the women in the town of Kutum where they are being interviewed by security officials from the Sudanese government. From Kutum they will travel to Khartoum, capital of Sudan, and from there it will be a journey to Dublin for Sharon Commins, whilst Hilda Kuwuki will be making her way to her home in the Ugandan capital Kampala. The GOAL website also carries a message from Ms Commins, whose family was notified of her release in a phone call from a Sudanese government minister, and Ms Kuwuki which reads:

We are naturally thrilled to be released after such a long period in captivity.

We know it must have been a traumatic period for our families especially and for our friends.

We want to express our heartfelt thanks to the Irish Government, the Sudanese authorities and our colleagues in GOAL, who all worked tirelessly to secure our release. We’d also like to thank everyone in Ireland and in Uganda who offered so much support to our families – we know our families appreciated that very much.

It was of course, a difficult time - but we found strength in each other and in our friendship.

We now can hardly wait to get home and spend time with our loved ones

Since 2003 , when rebels in Darfur, who are ethnically African, began fighting the Sudanese government, which is largely made up of Arabs, as many as 300,000 people have been killed in the region and over two million displaced. Kidnappings are not uncommon in Darfur and aid agency workers, in the region to help tackle the humanitarian crisis, are vulnerable to being taken as, fearful of being seen to take sides in the conflict, they refuse to accept protection from the government and peacekeepers alike. In March the International Criminal Court in the Hague, Netherlands issued a warrant for the arrest of Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir as he has allegedly ordered war crimes to be committed in Darfur. The issue of the warrant has reportedly made the situation facing aid workers in the region more precarious.