Oxfam staff member killed in Sudan’s Darfur

Aug 2, 2006 (LONDON) — A Sudanese relief worker with global humanitarian organization Oxfam has been killed last Friday in West Darfur, a strife-torn region in west Sudan, Oxfam said in a statement on Wednesday.

“It is with deep sorrow that Oxfam announces that one of our staff members, Nouraldeen Abdalla Nourein, is believed to have been killed last Friday, 28 July, in West Darfur,” the statement said.

Armed men abducted Nouraldeen during a carjacking of an Oxfam vehicle in early May. Despite extensive efforts by Oxfam, the United Nations, the African Union, the local community, local authorities, and Nouraldeen’s family to trace him, we were unable to secure his release. “We believe that he was taken to Chad and held there until recently”.

Nouraldeen worked with Oxfam as a driver, providing water and sanitation to communities in the rural areas near Saraf Omra. He was collecting sand to construct a well when the carjacking took place.

“We have been told that Nouraldeen was making his way back to Saraf Omra in North Darfur last week when he was caught up in fighting in Helelat village near Kulbus. We believe that he died there.”

“Oxfam extends its deepest sympathies to Nouraldeen’s family and to his colleagues in North Darfur. He will be greatly missed,” it added.

The British charity said the ongoing insecurity in Darfur and the increased targeting of humanitarian vehicles and workers by armed groups, was making it ever more difficult and dangerous for aid agencies to operate.

Incidents of hijacking and looting that directly target humanitarian workers and vehicles have been steadily increasing throughout Darfur in recent months.

Oxfam’s programs currently provide clean water and sanitation to more than 400,000 people in the camps and rural areas of Darfur, as well as a further 125,000 Darfur refugees who have fled over the border to Chad.

(ST)