Fears after medical charity workers seized in Darfur

Published on Thursday 12 March 2009 20:55

THREE international aid workers from Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) have been kidnapped in Darfur, officials said last night, further complicating humanitarian operations in western Sudan.

The three workers from the medical charity's Belgian arm were seized along with two Sudanese as tension escalated in Sudan following the International Criminal Court's decision this month to issue an arrest warrant for the president, Omar Hassan al-Bashir, over accusations of war crimes in Darfur.

"This will be a further blow to the delivery of humanitarian assistance in that area, so the consequences are also extremely worrying for the population, the civilians of Darfur," said Christopher Stokes, general director of MSF Belgium.

"A group of armed men went to the location and ordered five persons to follow them. They were three international staff and two national staff," said Kemal Saiki, communications director for the United Nations-African Union peacekeeping force in Darfur.

MSF in Belgium said the two Sudanese were quickly released, but the three foreigners were still being held.

It identified them as a Canadian nurse, an Italian doctor and a French co-ordinator.

Catholic missionary news agency MISNA gave their names as Laura Archer, Mauro D'Ascanio and Raphael Meonier.