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Rebels kidnap 19 in Sudan, release some
(AP)
Updated: 2005-10-10 09:08
Dissident rebels kidnapped 18 African Union personnel and an American monitor
Sunday in Sudan's western Darfur region, U.S. and African officials said. Some
of the hostages were later released.
The abductions near Sudan's western border with Chad came a day after two
African Union troops were killed by another rebel group — the first fatalities
suffered by the pan-African body since it deployed peacekeepers to Darfur in
April 2004.
The rebel killings and kidnappings have been condemned by the African Union,
which has described them as violations of a shaky cease-fire aimed at ending the
Darfur conflict that started in 2003 and has claimed the lives of more than
180,000 people
Eighteen union personnel and one American were taken hostage by a faction
from one of two main Darfur rebel groups, the Justice and Equality Movement,
said an African Union official who declined to be identified because he was not
authorized to speak to the media.
It was unclear if the American was among those released or what his role was,
but he may have been a monitor working with the African Union, said Elizabeth
Lukasavich, a spokeswoman for USAID in the Sudanese capital, Khartoum.
Americans have also been supporting the peacekeeping mission in Darfur by
providing logistics and helping fly in troops.
The other hostages included military observers and civilian police, according
to the African official.
The African Union on Sunday also accused the other main Darfur rebel group,
the Sudan Liberation Army, of ambushing and killing two Nigerian soldiers and
two Sudanese drivers attached to the team in South Darfur.
Darfur rebels from black African tribes took up arms against government
forces in early 2003, complaining of discrimination and oppression. They have
accused the government of unleashing Arab tribal militia known as Janjaweed
against civilians in a terror campaign that has also displaced 2 million people.
The African Union mission in Darfur has 6,200 peacekeepers.
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