Sudanese man dies in botched kidnap attempt

A man has been shot dead in Sudan’s northern El Gedaref state near the border with Ethiopia when an apparent attempt to kidnap him went wrong.

Activist Amar Hassan Taher told Radio Dabanga that would-be kidnappers, allegedly Ethiopian ‘shifta’ militiamen, attempted to seize Yahya Hassan Ibrahim in the El Siaef area east of Basunuda. “The militiamen wanted to kidnap Yahya in order to get a ransom, but opened fire and shot him dead on the spot.

Mubarak El Nur, the independent MP of El Fashaga constituency, said that the attacks of the Ethiopian shifta militias have developed from stealing agricultural machinery to murdering farmers. He explained that the number of Sudanese deaths at the hands of Ethiopian militiamen has risen to 30 dead, and 20 abductees who have been released after the payment of SDG50,000 ($8,000) per person.

He said that there are more than 2,000 Ethiopian farmers on Sudanese soil who work under the protection of the militias, as well as building a number of villages inside the Sudanese territory.