Kidnapped Indian oil worker released in Sudan
July 26, 2008 (KHARTOUM) — Sudanese kidnappers on Friday released an Indian oil worker and his driver in good health, following a 74-day hostage ordeal in the heart of the African country, said the Indian ambassador in Khartoum.
“(He) was released this morning along with the Sudanese driver. He’s in good health I spoke to him. He should be in Khartoum tomorrow,” said Deepak Vohra.
“He said he was not mistreated,” he added.
Members of the Arab Messeria tribe were behind the kidnapping, the ambassador said.
“He was handed over to his employers. They had sent someone to collect him from a pre-designated area. I presume there was contact between the employers and the kidnappers,” said Vohra.
Four Indian oil workers were abducted with their Sudanese driver on May 13 in an area adjoining Sudan’s disputed oil district of Abyei.
Two oil workers already escaped in May — one of whom went missing in the jungle. A third oil worker broke free in June.
The drama marked the first Indian kidnapping in the oil-rich African country and the ambassador signalled that one of the escaped hostages had already been in touch with his employers about returning to Sudan.
In the past, Darfur rebels have kidnapped foreign oil workers from Sudanese oilfields, often targeting Chinese companies because of their strong ties with Khartoum, although all of those abducted eventually emerged unscathed.
The Indians, all men in their 30s, work for Petro Energy Contracting Services, which provides technical services to the oil industry. The company employs 75 Indians in Sudan.
The technicians were travelling in a single vehicle when they were surrounded by kidnappers while returning from Neem oil field to Heglig.
Two days after their abduction, the United Nations evacuated its entire civilian staff of 259 people from Abyei following clashes between Sudanese government troops and southern forces.
Abyei and surrounding areas are prey to sporadic violence between tribes aligned either with the Arab-dominated government in Khartoum or with the administration in the south despite a 2005 peace deal that ended the civil war.
Under a roadmap for peace agreed last month, rival northern and southern troops are leaving Abyei so that joint patrols can restore security after the fighting flattened the area’s main town and killed at least 89 people.
The violence was seen as the biggest threat to the fledgling peace process that ended 21 years of civil war between north and south in 2005 after more than 1.5 million people were killed.
(AFP)