By Opheera McDoom
KHARTOUM, Oct 24 (Reuters) - A French aid worker kidnapped two days ago in Sudan's Darfur region is in good health and no ransom has been demanded, the International Committee for the Red Cross (ICRC) said on Saturday.
The kidnapping of Gauthier Lefevre is the latest in a wave of abductions of foreign workers in Darfur since the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for President Omar Hassan al-Bashir in March.
"The captors confirmed that Gauthier was okay but we were not able to talk to him," ICRC spokeswoman Tamara al-Rifai said. "They made no specific requests."
The abduction took place just days after two women working for the Irish Goal aid agency were released after more than 100 days held on a mountain in Darfur.
They said their kidnappers told them they just wanted money. Two U.N.-African Union peacekeepers were also taken almost two months ago and remain in captivity.
Sudan says it does not pay ransoms but has not yet apprehended any of the kidnappers.
Mostly non-Arab rebels took up arms in Darfur in early 2003. Heavy fighting has largely subsided but with the spread of arms law and order has collapsed in many areas.
The rebel group Justice and Equality Movement said Lefevre was kidnapped after meeting their troops in the Jabel Moun area in West Darfur.
"All these kidnappings happen in government controlled areas," JEM spokesman Ahmed Adam said. "We hold the government totally responsible."
The ICRC said it saw no relation between the meeting and the kidnapping.
Sudan's humanitarian affairs ministry said the kidnappers were bandits looking for money, and it optimistic Lefevre would be released soon.
"These are idle, illiterate bandits roaming around with guns looking for money," state minister for humanitarian affairs Abdel Baqi al-Jailani said.
(Editing by Angus MacSwan)
Brigadier Moin-ud-din Ahmed, deputy force commander of the United Nations Mission in Sudan (UNMIS), is seen in this undated handout photograph released by UNMIS on October 22, 2009. Suspected Taliban militants ...
