A British aid worker held hostage in Sudan's South Darfur region for almost three months has been released unharmed by his captors, his employer announced Wednesday.
Patrick Noonan was working with the United Nations World Food Program (WFP) as a logistician when he was abducted along with his driver, a Sudanese national, on March 6 by a group of armed men. His driver was released later on the same day. Noonan had been in Sudan for about two years at the time of his abduction.
"All WFP staff are celebrating the release of Patrick, today. He went to Darfur with the aim of helping vulnerable people and his kidnapping was a great strain on his family, friends and colleagues. We are thankful for his safe release," WFP's Executive Director, Ertharin Cousin, said in a news release issued Wednesday.
WFP, along with the UN Department of Safety and Security (UNDSS), the UN-African Union Mission in Darfur (UNAMID), the Government of Sudan and the embassy of the United Kingdom had been working on his release with the relevant local authorities in Darfur.
The head of UNAMID, Joint Special Representative Ibrahim Gambari,who also serves as the UN's senior-most security official in Darfur, praised the efforts of the Sudanese Government in securing Noonan's release. Nevertheless, he warned that the abduction of humanitarian workers was a violation of international humanitarian law and that the perpetrators must be found and prosecuted.
International aid workers and personnel working for the joint AU-UN peacekeeping force in Darfur have been the target of frequent attacks and kidnappings in recent years. The UNAMID had taken over peacekeeping duties in Darfur since January 2008 from the AU peacekeeping force. Since its deployment, the UNAMID has been the target of several deadly attacks.
According to the U.N., about 300,000 people have been killed and some 2.7 million displaced in the Darfur region after ethnic Africans took up arms against the Arab-dominated government in Khartoum in 2003 to fight discrimination.
The International Criminal Court has issued two warrants against Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir for crimes committed in the Darfur, the first in March, 2009 and the second in July, 2010. Bashir, who is accused of ordering a campaign of murder, torture and rape in Darfur during the seven-year conflict, has denied the charges.
The ICC warrants against Bashir were the first against a sitting head of state. Nevertheless, he defied the warrants by traveling to several African countries as well as China, as those nations refused to cooperate with the ICC in arresting him.
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