Kidnapped WFP pilots in Darfur freed
* Article
* Comments (3)
email Email
print Print
pdfSave
separation
increase
decrease
separation
separation
*
*
*
*
June 6, 2011 (KHARTOUM) – Three Bulgarian pilots held hostages in
Sudan’s western region of Darfur since January this year have been
released unharmed and moved to the capital Khartoum.
JPEG - 11.1 kb
A World Food Programme (WFP) aircraft drops food aid for the Oriny
villagers in Upper Nile State (UN Photo Service)
The World Food Program (WFP), for which the Bulgarian crew members
operated a helicopter delivering food aid in the troubled region, on
Monday announced their release and said they were transported to
Khartoum ahead of departure to their country.
WFP’s regional director in Khartoum, Omar Daudi, thanked the
government of Sudan for “the continuous efforts it exerted in securing
the release” of the kidnapped pilots.
“The three men appeared in good health condition,” he added.
The kidnapping of the three WFP-contracted pilots, which took place on
January 12 near air strip in Um Shalaya area in western Darfur,
mirrored another incident in early November when unknown gunmen
kidnapped three Latvian crewmen of a helicopter contracted by WFP in
south Darfur’s state capital Nyala. The Latvians were released on
December 8.
More than twenty-two foreigners were kidnapped in Darfur since March
2008 after Sudan’s president Omar Al-Bashir was issued an arrest
warrant by the International Criminal Court (ICC) against the
background of atrocities committed in Darfur.
All abductees were later freed unharmed amid anecdotal evidence that
ransoms were paid to secure their release.
However, WFP stressed in its press release that it did not pay any ransom.
(ST)
--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "JFD
info" group.
To post to this group, send email to [email protected].
To unsubscribe from this group, send email to
[email protected].
For more options, visit this group at
http://groups.google.com/group/jfdinfo?hl=en.
