Abducted Nepali UNHCR staff released in Sudan
Kathmandu, December 20
Two Nepalis and one Sudanese national working for the UN High Commission for Refugees who were abducted by gunmen in Sudan last month were released safely yesterday.
UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi today confirmed the news and welcomed the safe release of Nepali duo Sarun Pradhan and Ramesh Karki and their Sudanese colleague Musa Omer Musa Mohamed.
Karki is a resident of Dhapakhel, Lalitpur, while Pradhan is from Pulchowk, Lalitpur.
A family source told The Himalayan Times that both would join their families and loved ones in Nepal after health check-up and psychological counselling for healing process.
They were all working at UNHCR office in Sudan and were abducted by armed men from El Geneina, Sudan, on November 27.
It is learnt that they were released after weeks of efforts of the Sudanese government and the UN’s hostage management team.
Grandi released a statement today thanking ‘the Sudanese Government and its personnel, who worked to ensure this outcome’. “We also wish to thank members of the UN’s hostage management team and others who worked tirelessly on this case,” he stated.
Darfur has been engulfed in a deadly conflict since 2003 when ethnic minority groups took up arms against President Omar al-Bashir’s Arab-dominated government, which launched a brutal counter-insurgency offensive. At least 300,000 people have been killed and 2.5 million displaced in Darfur since then.
Grandi said the UN’s immediate focus was on the health and well-being of the three released men, as well as that of their loved ones who had to go through the ordeal.
He urged everyone to respect privacy of Sarun, Ramesh and Musa Omer and their families in this difficult time, as they began the process of healing.
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