€150,000 ransom paid to free Goal staff, claims tribal leader

[mmrebel]

THE ARAB tribal leader in Darfur who played a key role in securing the release of Goal aid worker Sharon Commins and her Ugandan colleague Hilda Kawuki claims that their kidnappers were paid a ransom by the Sudanese authorities.

Musa Hilal, who was last year appointed as a special adviser to Sudanese president Omar al-Bashir, told The Irish Times that, contrary to the public assertions of the Sudanese, Irish and Ugandan authorities, the kidnappers had received the equivalent of €150,000.

The two Goal aid workers were abducted at gunpoint after armed men stormed their compound in the north Darfur town of Kutum more than three months ago.

They were freed unharmed in the early hours of last Sunday morning.

Mr Hilal said that the abduction had dragged on for so long because agreement could not be reached on the ransom. When the Sudanese government initially said they would not allow the payment of a ransom, the kidnappers threatened to take the women to neighbouring Chad.

Mr Hilal claimed that he, working through mediators, had persuaded the gang to drop the Chad plan.

“This is the truth. Had I not intervened through these mediators, this situation wouldn’t have been sorted out like this. These guys would not have killed the girls but they would have taken them to Chad or any other place,” he said.

Mr Hilal said that, in the days before last weekend’s release, he had convinced the kidnappers to accept the original ransom they had demanded and release the two women. “I just [convinced] the kidnappers back to the sum and the [Sudanese] government paid that amount,” he said.

When it was put to him that Sudan’s minister for humanitarian affairs Abdul Bagi al-Jailani had stressed numerous times since the women were freed that no ransom had been paid, Mr Hilal replied: “This is just politicians’ talk . . . The amount of money I just talked about now is something the government doesn’t want to talk about.”
read the full article €150,000 ransom paid to free Goal staff, claims tribal leader - The Irish Times - Sat, Oct 24, 2009

[sheamuseen]

THE ARAB tribal leader in Darfur who played a key role in securing the release of Goal aid worker Sharon Commins and her Ugandan colleague Hilda Kawuki claims that their kidnappers were paid a ransom by the Sudanese authorities.

Musa Hilal, who was last year appointed as a special adviser to Sudanese president Omar al-Bashir, told The Irish Times that, contrary to the public assertions of the Sudanese, Irish and Ugandan authorities, the kidnappers had received the equivalent of €150,000.

The two Goal aid workers were abducted at gunpoint after armed men stormed their compound in the north Darfur town of Kutum more than three months ago.

They were freed unharmed in the early hours of last Sunday morning.

Mr Hilal said that the abduction had dragged on for so long because agreement could not be reached on the ransom. When the Sudanese government initially said they would not allow the payment of a ransom, the kidnappers threatened to take the women to neighbouring Chad.

Mr Hilal claimed that he, working through mediators, had persuaded the gang to drop the Chad plan.

“This is the truth. Had I not intervened through these mediators, this situation wouldn’t have been sorted out like this. These guys would not have killed the girls but they would have taken them to Chad or any other place,” he said.

Mr Hilal said that, in the days before last weekend’s release, he had convinced the kidnappers to accept the original ransom they had demanded and release the two women. “I just [convinced] the kidnappers back to the sum and the [Sudanese] government paid that amount,” he said.

When it was put to him that Sudan’s minister for humanitarian affairs Abdul Bagi al-Jailani had stressed numerous times since the women were freed that no ransom had been paid, Mr Hilal replied: “This is just politicians’ talk . . . The amount of money I just talked about now is something the government doesn’t want to talk about.”
read the full article €150,000 ransom paid to free Goal staff, claims tribal leader - The Irish Times - Sat, Oct 24, 2009

while it is good to see those people being freed it is rarely a good policy to start rewarding kidnappers. a terrible dilemma for those involved though...

[Sync]

Of course we paid. Smart thing to do. Everyone pays, apart from the cases where it's decided to send a team in after them, which can have deadly consequences.

[midlander12]

Well, their release came remarkably suddenly. If it puts a spanner into Micky Martin's pompous pontificating, so much the better. In reality, ransoms are routinely paid in these situations. The French and Italians do it all the time and just keep quiet about it.

[libertarian-right]

If true, this encourages them to kidnap....

[master funk]

money well spent just a pity they didnt do it earlier and protect them girls

[mmrebel]

Pity that was the case personally i would have handed over the money and then shot the scum dead.

It will only encourage more kidnaps policy should be shot to kill till they get the message its the only its the only message they will start to understand.

[Sync]

If true, this encourages them to kidnap....

They don't need encouragement. It's a business for them and a very lucrative one. The kidnaps will occur anywhere you send foreign aid workers into similar areas, there's little that can be done about that. So really the discussion (once you rule our armed rescue) is about how much you pay to them.

[mmrebel]

They don't need encouragement. It's a business for them and a very lucrative one. The kidnaps will occur anywhere you send foreign aid workers into similar areas, there's little that can be done about that. So really the discussion (once you rule our armed rescue) is about how much you pay to them.

So we dont send aid in let people starve to death ?

And its not business its criminal scum no different to the criminal scum that kidnapped that
lady's family in Inchicore yesterday.

[Sync]

I'm not saying don't send people in. It's an accepted risk when you go in though. When you go to South America on business you know there's a risk of kidnap as well. You just accept it. Saying kidnap's not a business for them is like saying poppy growing isn't a business for those in Afghanistan.