Sudan Searching For Kidnappers In Darfur: Official

Sudanese security forces were searching for kidnappers who took two foreign aid workers in the restive western Sudanese region of Darfur, a Sudanese official said on Saturday, Xinhua reported.
   "The operation of searching for the kidnappers is going on, " Ismail Hussein Hashim, the acting governor of North Darfur State, told Xinhua in a telephone call, adding that the army troops in the area which the abduction had taken place were put on alert.
   However, the Sudanese official noted that the fate of the kidnapped foreign aid workers and the identification of the kidnappers remained unknown.
   It was speculated that the kidnappers and their hostages were heading for the area of Fatu Bruno in the west part of the North Darfur State, he said, adding that "this information was only speculation without confirmation."
   On Friday, unknown armed men broke into the office of an Irish humanitarian group in the Kutum area in north Darfur and kidnapped two aid workers, one Irish and the other Ugandan, and their bodyguards. The bodyguards were released shortly after the abduction.
   "It is difficult to nominate someone behind the kidnapping, there is more than one party which can carry out this kidnapping, and there are many militias and rebel groups in Darfur," the acting governor stressed.
   He said that the local authorities had been working hard to put an end to the phenomenon of the abduction of international humanitarian organizations' personnel, saying that "we are trying to enhance the safeguard around the headquarters of the organizations and places where foreign aid workers are existing to eliminate the phenomenon of kidnapping, but a situation of war and chaos in this area does not help us."
   He called on international organizations to continue their relief activities in Darfur despite the repeated abduction incidents.
   "On some occasions, the international organizations took decisions to close their offices and transfer their staff out of Darfur after abductions had taken place, and we do not want such a measure to be taken this time because it would affect negatively on the situation of displaced persons who are receiving assistance through these organizations," the Sudanese official noted.
   "We hope that the foreign organizations are dealing with the incidents as isolated actions carried out by irresponsible groups, " he added.
   Meanwhile, Rabia Abdul Ati, an adviser in the Sudanese Ministry of Information and Communications and a prominent official in the ruling National Congress Party, told Xinhua correspondent in Khartoum that "more than one group can be involved in the kidnapping."
   He said that the kidnappers, by carrying out the abductions, wanted to embarrass the Sudanese government and to show that the government was unable to provide security in Darfur.
   "There are many armed groups in Darfur, and there are rebel movements which can carry out such actions to confirm its presence in Darfur," he said.
   This was the third incident of kidnapping taking place in Darfur since March this year.