Irish Aid Worker Kidnapped – Background and Interview with Regional Expert
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This one doesn’t quite fit into the usual Irish Election remit but I figured it is current affairs and there’d be a few of our regular readers interested (plus, I’m working for a non-print news organisation at the minute so I’ve no where else to put this).
I’ve just finished a brief interview with Declan Power, a security and defence expert with huge knowledge of the Darfur region in Sudan where the Irish aid worker Sharon Commins was kidnapped yesterday. Power is former member of the Irish Defence Forces where he was specially trained in internal security. He was deployed overseas numerous times during the course of his army career, mainly to Africa. Last year he spent three months working in the Darfur region as a communications officer with Irish Aid and is on his way back there at present, he spoke to me from the Sudanese capital, Khartoum. Power is also a freelance journalist who has worked with RTÉ, The Irish Daily Star and The Sunday Business Post, amongst others.
Quick background: Yesterday reports emerged that three people were kidnapped from the GOAL compound in Kutum, northern Darfur. John O’Shea of GOAL told The Irish Times that six armed men came to the compound and took three people away and that he hoped it was simply a ransom (criminal not political) kidnapping. The three people kidnapped were Sharon Commins, a 32 year-old Irish woman from Clontarf, Dublin, Hilda Kawuki a 42 year-old Ugandan national, and an unnamed Sudanese security guard. The security guard was released almost immediately and is now being interviewed by the UN and local police.
The Darfur region has become increasingly dangerous since the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for Sudanese President Omar El Bashir on charges of war crimes in March, El Bashir’s response was to expel 13 humanitarian aid agencies from the country which he accused of spying for the ICC. Four of the agencies were re-admitted earlier this year, though the Sudanese Government denies that, saying the agencies re-admitted were different to the ones expelled. This means there is no group that the international present in the area could point the finger at, both pro-government and rebel forces would have a motive. There have been two similar kidnappings of aid workers in recent months, one in March saw the hostages released unharmed several days later, another in April saw the hostages released three weeks later, again unharmed.
Reuters are reporting that the local rebel militia, The Sudan Liberation Army are denying involvement in yesterday’s kidnapping and are blaming the government-backed Eagles of Bashif. AFP are reporting that the Sudanese Government are trying to contact the kidnappers.
On The Marian Finuance Show this morning O’Shea described Commins as his former “left-hand woman”. I asked Power who the likely culprits were and, given Commins’ position, presumably one of seniority in the area, if the hostages were specifically targeted…
The targeting is a possibility. Things are never quite what the seem out here. This doesn’t indicate the usual criminal intent many cases of kidnap attempted out here are disguised as criminal but have a political purpose. Both sides [pro-gov and rebel forces] attempt to masquerade as each other in attacking UN or international staff.
Who are the likely perpetrators? The SLA rebels are denying involvement but several media outlets seem to be inferring that the Eagles of Bashif are the chief suspects…
It’s too early to tell. To be honest a denial means nothing out here. I’m still in Khartoum doing briefings so don’t have the inside track yet, but often times the group that everyone’s pointing at are not the perps. Sometimes it can be govt related or orchestrated. The ICC indictment has lead to many strange activities.
On RTÉ radio this morning John O’Shea said he hoped the department of defence would get involved, what are the possibilities of this happening?
It will be the department of foreign affairs and the UN at the heart of this, highly, highly, unlikely defence will get involved. This is a very sensitive situation, it’ll be guile and negotiations that sort this out, not force.
What kind of conditions are the two hostages likely to be kept in? Is there any precedence for this? Most seem to be released almost immediately…
Yes, immediate release has mostly been the case in Darfur. I wouldn’t say conditions are great… similar to Darfur in general but I doubt it would be a Hezbollah-like situation – hooded and chained up. My guess is they will be treated well because they are probably part of some internal political machination. The most important thing for them is to keep their psyche intact. It would be interesting to know if GOAL routinely send their staff on personal security and reaction to hostage taking courses…
In certain situations these kidnappings are kept quiet to keep the situation localised [huge media coverage increases value of hostage to kidnappers, see kidnapping of David Rohde] do you think GOAL are doing the right thing in splashing this everywhere?
Yes, max publicity, splash it everywhere, what is needed is leverage (with the UN, dept of foreign affairs, African Union etc).
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As I said, it was brief. I tired to contact GOAL to ask if they routinely send staff on personal security and reaction to hostage-taking courses but couldn’t get through to anyone in their offices – had no time to dig out press officers’ numbers. In fact, I’m not sure if there is a press officer, O’Shea seems to do much of it himself.
Another report from The Irish Times emerged as I wrote this – mainly quotes from John O’Shea’s appearance on Marian Finucane – note, O’Shea…
… said he could not comment on whether the kidnapping might have been carried out solely for a ransom or for political reasons, as he did not know.
“When no note is left, no words are exchanged, I can’t really be certain of anything other than GOAL have played no political role in our 24 or 25 years in Sudan.”
The agency dealt with people turning up in “desperate need” and helped them, he said.
He said the agency’s clinics, schools and feeding centres had been “open to all”.
In Darfur, he said, it would also be “quite impossible to know what is going on” among the “multitude of warring factions”.
Mr O’Shea said there had been no “ripple” effect following the eviction of 13 aid agencies from Darfur several months ago and GOAL had had no problems since.
The area in which it operated was “peaceful” and, to his knowledge, had not been visited by any of the rebel groups.
so why did john o shea suggest bringing in the department of defence in to this while the former soldiers says diplomats should be involved, its john o’shea is obsessed with militarising aid.
There’s an incidental point here. A couple of weeks ago, the Irish Times ran one of those glowing student profiles that they love of an Irish girl who had gotten accepted to Harvard via a stint at a secondary school in Paris. When one reads the actual story, it turns out that she was in Paris because her father, a senior Irish army officer, had been posted to the HQ of the EU enforcement mission in eastern Chad … which is headquartered in Paris! Now I’m sure she is very nice and intelligent person. But it never occurred to the IT to mention that all the opportunities that came her way (including most likely the fees at the Paris school) came from the Irish government via this appointment. So while the elite government appointees dealing with the Chad-Sudan problem live it up in Paris, the actual aid workers like Sharon live in tents on barren land and risk life and limb to help these desperate people. When do we get an glowing aid worker profile in the Irish Times?
@Steve:
It depends on how you wish to interpret it.
@P O’Neill
With respect, I don’t think it’d be necessary to say that so explicitly – in fact it’d be completely unfair on the girl to do so. The article mentions that she only moved to Paris because her father was appointed to the position. It’s already clear that her father is a Government appointee.
Also the article was about the fact she got into Harvard, nothing to do with her fathers job. Harvard is a fairly prestigious school, that’s why it was worth an article.
You seem to infer that the Cmdnt’s family are somehow ripping off the taxpayer by “living it up” in Paris and that the two grousp, the family and Sharon Commins are not getting the same respect nationally. I disagree. It’s a completely different situation and the family are perfectly entitled to get their child the best education available to them. Sharon Commins worked in the Dublin and European offices of GOAL for several years and chose to go Darfur recently, which I admire. However, I admire the service the Cmdnt gave to the country just as much – I’m sure he’s been to some messy locations saving lives too on his way to the rank he now occupies also.
Your question “when do we get glowing profiles of aid workers in The Times” would only be worth asking if we were getting glowing profiles of Irish Commandants working on the Chad-Sudan mission in Paris, which we’re not.
AID AT GUNPOINT? John O’Shea’s dangerous simpliticies
http://www.metroeireann.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=53&Itemid=54&limit=1&limitstart=1
john oshea is always calling for nato invasions of africa
qoute from article linked above no longer on line john o’shea own words damn him
John O’Shea goes even further than that. He envisions a situation where Western governments would go into Africa and act as a huge international humanitarian agency, with an army to force policies. “What should happen, if governments had enough vision or determination, they should go in as a government and implement themselves but keep the chequebook. Go in as a huge aid agency – in other words as a huge multinational. So for example, the US goes into a country, Uganda, tomorrow. It builds 20,000 clinics, 50,000 schools, and hands them over to the government and warns that government that if it does not run them properly, it will turn everything against them that they have; the World Bank, the IMF (International Monetary Fund), the UN and if we had a standing army, we turn that against them. That’s the only way to deal with these people,” says John O’Shea. Back to colonisation, then? “I don’t consider that colonisation… What the colonialists did was disgraceful in many, many ways. But do we have to worry about the sins of our forefathers? The governments that go in will need to act as a responsible humanitarian agency. If they go in to act in a corrupt way themselves then I would rather that they do not go in.”
steve, there are lot of people who would support the idea of western governments taking direct control of aid operations in at least African countries instead of allowing the level of redirection and corruption that there is which slows progress in people those whose needs is greatest.
He only makes an incidental reference as to what to do if a standing army existed instead of demanding on as you suggest he does. His words above do not support your claims, maybe there are others that do but those ones do not. But I guess that doesn’t matter to you as you’re looking at this through some ideological dislike of GOAL rather than being focused on the results or practical goals.
i dislike his speediness to bring in the military, hes one the one that brought them into the situation as reporter above by mark, not me.
stev, you regard someone saying “It will be the department of foreign affairs and the UN at the heart of this, highly, highly, unlikely defence will get involved.” as bringing the military into this? It is an obvious point for the media to bring up with him about the department of defence given that Irish troops have been in the area with the UN, and for him to get in early to pretty much rule it out.
Dan,
I’m with you on this one but I think it’s worth noting that Steve said, or at least I interpret him to say – “He [John O'Shea] is the one who brought them [the military] into the situation as reported [correction included - re: my quoting O'Shea from The Marian Finucane Show] not me”.
Steve was talking about O’Shea, not Power, whom you have quoted…
My bad, I didn’t reread that properly. steve, I take it back.
What is the up to date position about Sharon Commins? Has she been released?
Not that I’m aware of. I can’t say that I’m entirely uncomfortable about the manner in which this is being reported but I can understand why it’s being done.