U.S. and European media

April 6, 2023

Reuters: Two French aid workers kidnapped in Sudan. Two foreign workers for Aide Medicale Internationale were kidnapped at gunpoint in Sudan's Darfur region overnight, the French medical aid group said on Sunday. Sudanese officials said unidentified men seized the two women -- one Canadian, the other French -- and two Sudanese guards from their compound in Ed el Fursan in South Darfur just before midnight on Saturday night. The two guards were later released, the officials said. The second kidnapping of Western humanitarian workers in Darfur in less than a month has raised fears for the safety of foreigners in Sudan's violent west.

Reuters: Senator to Make Rare Darfur Visit. The chairman of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee, John Kerry, will lead a delegation to Sudan's Darfur region, U.S. officials said on Monday, in a possible sign of a growing willingness to engage with Khartoum. "This is significant," a U.S. diplomatic source told Reuters. "It is the first Congressional delegation to Sudan we have had since 2007. Like the U.S. envoy's current visit, it is a new tack." The state-run Sudanese Media Center said the U.S. Congressional delegation would visit Sudan for three days next week. Gration sounded one note of criticism over the weekend, saying he was concerned Darfur was on the brink of a deeper humanitarian crisis following a decision by the Sudanese government to expel foreign aid groups.

Reuters: Darfur on brink of deeper crisis - U.S. envoy. Darfur is on the brink of a deeper humanitarian crisis following Khartoum's expulsion of aid groups and needs a new relief push within weeks, the U.S. special envoy to Sudan said on Saturday. Envoy Scott Gration spoke as he travelled through north Darfur a month after Sudan expelled 13 foreign aid groups and closed three local organisations it accused of helping build a war crimes case against the country's president. He told reporters by phone he had just visited Zamzam refugee camp, where buildings run by the ousted aid groups remain closed, health services were hit and water reserves were close to running dry. "I was very concerned with what I saw. We are on the brink of a deeper crisis in Darfur," Gration said.

Associated Press: Sudan opposition leader: Darfur crisis forgotten. A Sudanese opposition leader has told a visiting U.S. envoy that the African country's government and its allies have forgotten the humanitarian crisis in Darfur. Islamist leader Hassan Turabi says that instead, they are consumed with efforts to protect Sudanese president from the arrest warrant by an international tribunal. Omar al-Bashir is wanted for war crimes in Darfur by the International Criminal Court. Turabi met Friday with J.Scott Gration, the U.S. envoy who is expected to visit Darfur.

Agence France-Presse: Islamic grouping plans Darfur aid project. The Organisation of the Islamic Conference on Friday announced a project to step up help to the troubled Sudanese region of Darfur following last month's expulsion of 13 international aid agencies. The plan envisages "urgent and continued aid services," help for refugees to go home and rebuilding in the war-torn western region, according to documents presented to a conference in Libya of humanitarian agencies in OIC member states. However, Atta al-Manan Bakhit, deputy general secretary of the Saudi-based IOC, denied that his organisation was seeking to replace the departed aid groups. "Our aim is to coordinate the action of Muslim NGOs already active in Darfur in coordination with the United Nations. These NGOs have very few resources and cannot remain in the field for long," he told AFP.

The Darfur Daily News is a service of the Save Darfur Coalition. To subscribe to the Daily News, please email [email protected]. For media inquiries, please contact Ashley Roberts at (202) 478-6181, or [email protected].