* Frenchman working for ICRC seized in eastern Chad * ICRC says temporarily suspended aid activities there (Adds ICRC statement) PARIS, Nov 10 (Reuters) - A Frenchman working for the International Committee for the Red Cross has been seized by armed men in eastern Chad, leading the aid group to temporarily suspend its activities in the region on Tuesday. Laurent Maurice, 37, was kidnapped on Monday evening in the village of Kawa, near the border with Sudan, an ICRC statement said. The agronomist had been in Chad since the start of 2009 and was monitoring the latest harvests in the African state. "The ICRC is calling for the rapid and unconditional release of its kidnapped staff member," it said in a statement. The neutral humanitarian agency announced it had temporarily suspended its activities in eastern Chad, where an estimated 160,000 Chadians have been uprooted by fighting. Maurice had been spending the night in Kawa, where the ICRC is supporting a primary health care centre, with five of his Chadian colleagues, according to the statement. The ICRC said it had no indication of who the abductors were or of their motives but was in contact with the authorities and other parties to resolve the situation as swiftly as possible. Maurice was the second French citizen working for the ICRC to be kidnapped in Africa in recent weeks. Gauthier Lefevre, was captured in Sudan's Darfur region on Oct. 22 in the latest in a wave of abductions targeting foreign workers and aimed at raising big ransoms. The 35-year-old is head of the ICRC's office in el-Geneina, West Darfur. Lefevre is still in the hands of his captors, ICRC spokeswoman Anna Schaaf said. (Reporting by Crispian Balmer and Stephanie Nebehay in Geneva; Editing by Jon Boyle)
A worker carries a bag of dry beans into one of two trucks with aid for El Salvador in Managua November 9 2009. Heavy rains pummeled El Salvador this weekend, bursting ...
