NGO, Sudan authorities work to retrieve abducted staff

The international Goal organisation is working with Sudanese authorities to locate the whereabouts of two of their Sudanese aid workers, who remain unaccounted for following their abduction in Kutum, North Darfur on Wednesday. In a statement released today (Friday), the Irish-based humanitarian agency stated that “the authorities are working together with Goal’s crisis management team and the country team to determine the next course of action”. The Chief Operations Officer, Jonathan Edgar, further reported that the organisation is in contact with the families of the staff members involved, but refrained from further comments on the situation. He did not clarify whether the Goal country director is amongst the kidnapped, as Radio Dabanga reported earlier this week. The staff members and a Sudanese national working with another agency were travelling to a “routine assignment” close to Kutum town on Wednesday at about 11 am when an unknown group abducted them. The driver of the vehicle, also a Goal staff member, was later released, but the other two aid workers remain missing. File photo: Goal staff working in Kutum town, North Darfur (GOAL) Related: NGO staff abducted in Kutum, North Darfur (19 June 2014)