Three UNHCR staff abducted in West Darfur

Gunmen reportedly abducted two foreign employees of the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) and their Sudanese driver in the West Darfur capital of El Geneina on Sunday.

On Sunday evening, multiple sources reported to Radio Dabanga from El Geneina that a group of gunmen driving a vehicle kidnapped the three workers in the centre of the town.

“At 6.30pm, they intercepted the car that was transporting the foreign staffers from the office to their home, not far from the El Geneina Grand Mosque. They took them at gunpoint to an unknown destination,” one of them said.

According to the sources, the gunmen “most probably belong to a paramilitary group”.

UNHCR replied to Radio Dabanga on Monday morning that it cannot say anything about the incident at this moment. The abductees are two foreigners and a Sudanese, and they were put into a four-wheel-drive vehicle which headed to an unknown destination, according to West Darfur government spokesman Abdallah Mustafa Jarelnabi.

On Thursday evening, gunmen kidnapped and robbed four staff members of the UN-AU Mission in Darfur (Unamid) in Nyala, the capital of South Darfur. The victims were released a few hours later.