IOM employee abducted in Nyala, South Darfur

(Updated 23:50) Militiamen abducted a staff member of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) in Nyala, capital of South Darfur at midday on Sunday.  The IOM employee, a Mozambican, was taken to an unknown location by the abductors, an eyewitness told Radio Dabanga.He said that the gunmen, driving Land Cruisers, intercepted the IOM employee, and forced him out of his vehicle at gunpoint.Maysaa El Ghribawy, acting officer in charge of IOM’s Sudan mission confirmed to AFP: “An IOM colleague has been abducted from South Darfur at about 5:30-6:00 pm Sunday.”The kidnapping follows the disappearance last month of two Sudanese employees of the Irish aid group GOAL. They were taken while travelling on assignment near Kutum in North Darfur. Also in June, an Indian contractor with Darfur’s Unamid peacekeeping mission was freed after 94 days in captivity. He was abducted by armed men in El Fasher, the North Darfur capital.In May, Unamid peacekeeper Sgt. Awesu Soleiman, who was abducted while driving a Unamid water tanker in Nyala, South Darfur on 9 March, was freed in the city on Thursday after 54 days in captivity. Photo: IOM logoRelated:NGO staff abducted in Kutum, North Darfur (19 June 2014) UN contractor released in Darfur after 94 days (13 June 2014) Abducted peacekeeper released in South Darfur (1 May 2014)