Sudan says government officials kidnapped in Darfur

KHARTOUM, Nov 1 (AFP) — Several government officials have been kidnapped by armed rebels in Sudan’s troubled western region of Darfur, the official SUNA news agency reported Monday.

A plainclothes police officer holds his Uzi machine gun.

Ismail Beshir Dudu, the deputy commissioner of Kutum district in North Darfur, was travelling with other members of his provincial administration when they were driven away at gunpoint to an unknown location, it said without elaborating.

It said the incident was reported to observers from the African Union in Darfur.

Against the backdrop of mounting international pressure on Khartoum to bring an end to the 20-month-old civil war in Darfur and ongoing negotiations in Nigeria, both sides have traded accusations of attacks.

Few can be verified independently.

On Sunday, one of the two main rebel groups involved in negotiations in Abuja threatened a walk-out, alleging that the government continued to ignore international warnings and had carried out air raids on civilian villages.