‘Kidnappers of Eritrean refugees demand ransom’: Brother of victim
The brother of an Eritrean asylum seeker, who was abducted by gunmen in Kassala locality, eastern Sudan, last week, said that the kidnappers demand $5,000 for her release.
“They told me that if I do not pay, they will shop her to another tribe, or just kill her,” an Eritrean refugee living in Norway, told IBTimes UK by telephone.
The brother of an Eritrean asylum seeker, who was abducted by gunmen in Kassala locality, eastern Sudan, last week, said that the kidnappers demand $5,000 for her release.
"They told me that if I do not pay, they will shop her to another tribe, or just kill her," an Eritrean refugee living in Norway, told IBTimes UK by telephone.
His sister is one of the 14 Eritrean refugees abducted last Thursday, when the UNHCR lorry they were traveling to Shagarab refugee camp, was ambushed by an armed group, reportedly consisting of Arab Rashaida tribesmen.
The Eritreans resisted the kidnappers, but they managed to seize 14 of the 49 asylum seekers, and took them to an unknown destination. Six of the abductees, four boys and two girls, are unaccompanied minors.
The UNHCR told IBTimes UK that they are not aware of a ransom in the case.
The Rashaida tribe is known for the systematic abduction of Eritrean refugees from eastern Sudanese refugee camps. The asylum seekers are then sold to criminal gangs in the Sinai, Egypt, and subjected to torture, in order to pressure their relatives to pay large sums of money for their release.
Human rights organisations have repeatedly accused Sudanese officials of being involved in the trafficking of refugees.
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