Two Russian pilots kidnapped

DARFUR: Two Russian pilots were kidnapped from Nyala town in Darfur on Sunday, state media said, the latest in a wave of kidnappings targeting foreigners in the violent region.

Abductions targeting foreigners have become big business in the west of Sudan, severely restricting the world’s largest aid operation and hindering the UN-funded peacekeeping mission (UNAMID). The two Russians were working for the Sudanese Badr Airlines and were taken late on Sunday afternoon, SUNA news agency said.

Darfur’s largest town, Nyala has been the target for many abductions of foreign aid workers and UNAMID peacekeepers, mostly by young men from Arab tribes demanding cash.

The kidnappings started after the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant for President Omar Hassan al-Bashir in 2009 accusing him of war crimes and crimes against humanity in Darfur.

This year the ICC added genocide to the charges. The United Nations estimates some 300,000 people died in the humanitarian crisis sparked after a brutal counter-insurgency campaign drove more than 2 million from their homes.

Reports that Khartoum has paid ransoms for foreign aid workers has fuelled the abductions and the government has failed to arrest any of those responsible for the kidnaps. Khartoum denies paying ransom money.

One woman working for the U S charity Samaritan’s Purse has spent more than 100 days in captivity.

UNAMID and the government are digging a trench around Nyala town to prevent kidnappers entering the town through dirt roads.

Khartoum, Monday, Reuters