Maravi

(TALKZIMBABWE) Zim peacekeeper released by Darfur kidnappers

Zim peacekeeper released by Darfur kidnappers
TZG/Reuters reporters
Tue, 15 Dec 2009 02:42:00 +0000

Freed civilian peacekeeper Pamela Ncube (C) from Zimbabwe is welcomed by unidentified United Nations officials upon her arrival at the airport in the Sudanese capital Khartoum, December 14, 2009, a day after she was freed in Darfur along with fellow civilian peacekeeper Patrick Winful from Nigeria.

A ZIMBABWEAN civilian peacekeeper who was held for 107 days by kidnappers in the remote mountains in Sudan's Darfur region has been freed, along with one other civilian peacekeeper from Nigerian.

Pamela Ncube and Patrick Winful from Nigeria, looking frail but cheerful, received an emotional welcome at Uganda's Khartoum airport a day after they were freed in Darfur.

The two freed peacekeepers on Monday described how they survived 107 days held by Sudanese kidnappers.

They were on Darfur’s joint African Union-United Nations Mission in Darfur (Unamid) peacekeeping force.

They were abducted at gunpoint from their base in the west Darfur town of Zalingei in August in one of a new wave of kidnappings.

“I feel great. I give glory to God,” said Ncube, a member of Unamid’s child protection team.

Nigeria's Winful described the conditions. “There was no shelter at all. We were under the sun, under the moon,” Winful said at the airport. Winful said they were treated “quite well” by their captors but exposed to harsh conditions in Darfur’s central Jabel Marra mountains.

“We were in the mountains throughout. There was the harmattan (a dust storm). There were the rains.”

The Unamid security officer said they worked hard to keep each other cheerful. “Without that we wouldn’t have made it out. We just took a day at a time.”

Both said they were too exhausted to talk longer and thanked Sudan’s government for keeping up pressure on their captors. They were given medical checks at the airport.

West Darfur’s national security chief Ahmed Altayeb Abugroon said the kidnapping was carried out by bandits linked to rebel groups in the area.

“We negotiated through the families of the kidnappers and other channels ... Yesterday, thanks to God, we persuaded them to release the captives.”

Abugroon said the peacekeepers were set free about 13km outside Zalingei and walked until they were picked up by local authorities.

Government authorities earlier said the captors had demanded a ransom but none was paid.

UNAMID officials at the airport said Ncube and Winful told them they had survived on assida -- a porridge made from ground millet -- and birds caught in the area.

"They were moved all the time, always in the valley of the mountains. They lived outside under trees ... They were sick with stomach problems," said UNAMID spokesman Noureddine Mezni.

"The local administration played an important role. They were negotiating until the last minute." The peacekeepers, he said, "were both very brave".

Gunmen have abducted at least 14 foreigners in Darfur and just over its border in neighbouring Chad and the Central African Republic (CAR) since March.

Two officers for the International Committee of the Red Cross, abducted in Darfur and Chad, and two workers for the French aid group Triangle, seized in CAR, remain in captivity.

The Darfur conflict surged in 2003 when mostly non-Arab rebels took up arms against Khartoum, accusing it of neglect.

UN SECRETARY GENERAL DEEPLY GRATIFIED

The Secretary-General of the United Nations, Ban Ki-moon said he was deeply gratified to learn that two civilian staff members from Unamid are now free.

"The Secretary-General commends the efforts of UNAMID and the Government of Sudan in securing the freedom of the abductees," read a statement attributable to the Spokesperson for Ban Ki-moon that was released in New York yesterday.

"He wishes to underscore the importance of the peacekeeping and humanitarian work being undertaken by the United Nations in Darfur," the statement continued.

"The Secretary-General also reiterates that the primary responsibility for the safety and security of all humanitarian and peacekeeping personnel lies with the Host Government," the statement concluded. -- TZG/Reuters

Labels: DARFUR, PAMELA NCUBE, UN, UNAMID, ZIMBABWE

posted by MrK @ 7:02 AM