Italian Aid Worker Kidnapped in Darfur, Foreign Ministry Says
An Italian aid worker was kidnapped in Sudan’s western region of Darfur, Italy’s Foreign Ministry said in an e-mailed statement today.
Francesco Azzara, a doctor with the Italian aid group Emergency, was kidnapped yesterday in Nyala, the capital of south Darfur state, the ministry said. “The mission confirms an Italian aid worker, a doctor, was abducted,” Kemal Saiki, a spokesman for the United Nations and African Union peacekeeping mission in Sudan’s western region of Darfur, said today by phone from El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur state.
Bandits and armed groups have targeted aid groups in Darfur, where an eight-year old conflict between the government and rebel groups has led to the deaths of as many as 300,000 people, mainly due to illness and starvation, and forced about 2.7 million to flee their homes, according to UN estimates.
Insurgents in Darfur took up arms in 2003, accusing President Umar al-Bashir’s government in Khartoum of neglecting the region. The Sudanese government has put the death toll at about 10,000.
To contact the reporter on this story: Sonia Sirletti in Milan at ssirletti@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Frank Connelly at fconnelly@bloomberg.net
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