Nov. 24, 2006, Burlington, Ont. - A man who was abducted while delivering relief assistance in Darfur, Sudan returned safely this morning, 48 hours after armed men had stopped his vehicle while he was returning from a food distribution centre.
Ahmed Abaker, a local driver for a Darfur relief consortium that includes the Christian Reformed World Relief Committee (CRWRC), was taken at gun point in Shaba, West Darfur. He turned up in Sanidadi approximately 7 a.m. Friday morning.
"It is with great relief that I can inform you that our driver, Ahmed, has been released," writes Nick Armstrong, program coordinator for the consortium. "He appears to be very tired after walking some distance, but seems thankfully unharmed."
Abaker was driving six passengers back from a food centre in Warda when his vehicle was confronted by five armed men. The passengers were robbed but left unharmed by the roadside. Abaker was then forced to drive the men to an unknown location.
"Out of the entire pool of drivers, I remember two people as being dependable and just all around fine people, and Ahmed Abaker was one of them," remarked Elly Dalmaijer, who worked for CRWRC as part of the consortium in Darfur with her husband, Jack in 2005.
CRWRC works with 90,000 people affected by the conflict in Darfur as part of the consortium registered as World Relief US in El Geneina, the capital of West Darfur. The program is multi-sectoral supplying food, medicines, clean water and sanitation and agricultural inputs and training. CRWRC has been providing skilled volunteers, financial resources and expert consulting in Darfur since 2004.
For an interview with Elly Dalmaijer or Jacob Kramer, NGO relations/relief coordinator, please contact Val Henschel at (905) 336-2920, x. 298.
For more information about these programs, visit www.crwrc.org or call 1-800-730-3490. CRWRC is a Christian, non-profit organization of the Christian Reformed Church in North America. With a bi-national home office base in Burlington, Ontario and Grand Rapids, MI, CRWRC provides a ministry of development, relief, and justice education to people in need around the world. It is currently active in 30 countries, and has an international reputation for "helping people help themselves."
Contact: Val Henschel
905-336-2920, Toll Free: 1-800-730-3490
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Henry Hess
Director of Communication
Christian Reformed Church
To learn more about the Christian Reformed Church visit www.crcna.org <http://www.crcna.org