Masked men abduct, beat Darfur aid workers
By Andrew Heavens
KHARTOUM, Dec 4 (Reuters) - Masked men armed with an AK-47 and hand grenade abducted and beat up six aid workers on the road to a volatile camp in Sudan's war-torn Darfur region on Thursday, peacekeepers said.
The aid workers had been in a convoy heading to Kalma camp in south Darfur, the scene of numerous clashes between bandits, militias, government troops and residents.
It was the latest in a string of attacks on aid staff. Eleven humanitarian workers have been killed in Darfur this year, and U.N. figures show aid compounds were targeted 144 times between January and September.
The six aid workers - all Sudanese - are employed by an international aid organisation, which asked not to be named. Three of them were taken to hospital after the attack.
"The worst thing about it was the impact on our staff. They will be traumatised," said an aid agency representative. "But this is what happens. Darfur is not safe and vehicles are a target."
The attackers stopped the convoy in the morning, searched the vehicles and took some money, said Noureddine Mezni, spokesman for the joint UN/African Union UNAMID peacekeeping force in Darfur.
They then drove off in one of the vehicles with the six staff inside. The aid workers were found after the vehicle was abandoned, Mezni said.
Kalma, one of the largest and most politicised camps in the region, is home to more than 90,000 people driven from their homes in more than five years of fighting in Sudan's violent west.
Local authorities have launched several attempts to shut it down, claiming rebels and bandits are using it as a base. In August, 33 residents were shot dead when armed soldiers and police raided the settlement, saying they were searching for weapons and suspects. Residents deny arms are being stored inside.
Darfur is the world's largest humanitarian operation, involving 85 aid organisations and 16 U.N. agencies.
U.N. officials said last week that humanitarian organisations in south Darfur were facing growing harassment from government officials who have accused them of supplying evidence to the International Criminal Court for a war crimes case against Sudan's president.
International experts say 200,000 people have died and 2.5 million have been uprooted since rebels took up arms against Sudan's government in 2003, accusing it of marginalising the region.
