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This blog post is taken from Michael Kleinman's change.org blog on humanitarian relief
Bad, bad week on the abductions front. Last Friday night, gunmen kidnapped two aid workers in Darfur - the two women, one Irish and one Ugandan, work for Goal.
They were taken from the compound in Kutum, North Darfur shortly after nightfall. The kidnappers identity is still unclear.
This is the third kidnapping incident in Darfur since early March, when the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for Sudanese President Omar Bashir. Four aid workers with MSF were kidnapped in March, and two aid workers with Aide Medicale International were taken in April. All were subsequently released.
According to an article by Rob Crilly in the Irish Times:
"'It's impossible to say how these things are connected, but there have been three kidnappings of westerners ever since the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant - that can't be a coincidence,' said one aid worker familiar with security conditions in Darfur.
...
A diplomatic source in Khartoum said: 'There are lots of rumours and theories flying around, but the truth is that no one knows anything until we hear from the kidnappers themselves.' Information is in short supply."
Then, over in Afghanistan, two aid workers with the Dutch NGO HealthNet TPO were kidnapped on Saturday.
According to HealthNet spokesman Geert Leerik:
"'We are caught in the middle between the Taliban and ISAF,' Leerik said. Taliban fighters were using the aid workers to retaliate against the international forces' activities.
'But even ISAF is very threatening to us too,' Leerik said, adding his aid workers are instructed always to try to keep a distance of some 200 metres from any ISAF military convoy.
Leerik said the difficulties were substantially bigger in areas where ISAF is active, but military commanders usually 'do not listen to us when we explain them our problems.'"
Sixteen humanitarian deminers working for the Mine Detection and Dog Centre in Afghanistan were also kidnapped on Saturday, only to be released a few days later.
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Michael Kleinman is an aid worker, lawyer, and consultant. From 2004 to 2007 he worked for CARE, first as the organization's Advocacy Advisor in Afghanistan, then covering Sudan, and finally as CARE's Regional Advocacy Advisor for East and Central Africa. He left CARE in early 2007 to take a position with International Relief & Development in Iraq. Prior to going overseas, Michael worked for the Harvard Program on Humanitarian Policy and Conflict Research, providing assistance to the United Nations. He is a graduate of Yale College and Harvard Law School. He runs change.org's blog on a 
