Businessman and his brother kidnapped in Ed Daein, East Darfur

13/06/2013 20:44

Prominent East Darfuri businessman Ali Kobe and his brother have reportedly been kidnapped just after Mahrib (sunset prayers) in Ed Daein on Thursday. Witnesses told Radio Dabanga that a group of unknown gunmen driving three Land Cruisers accosted Kobe and his brother as they inspected a brickfield he owns in the city. The brothers were first bound, then bundled into the vehicles before the men drove off, the witnesses said. This incident highlights an increasing hazard for business people and traders in Darfur, which is prompting some to demand armed bodyguards. Sources say that foreign aid workers also run a high risk of being kidnapped for ransom, but as many of them have now left the area, the focus of the kidnappers, whose motive seems ‘purely financial’, has shifted towards local businessmen. As reported previously by Radio Dabanga, several major traders from Nyala in South Darfur have already relocated their businesses to Khartoum, to the detriment of the local economy. File photo: A Darfur trader (by Sharon Lukunka/UNAMID) Related: S Darfur traders moving to Sudan capital amid poor security (20 March 2013) Director of Qatar charity attacked in his Nyala home, S. Darfur (27 February 2013)

Prominent East Darfuri businessman Ali Kobe and his brother have reportedly been kidnapped just after Mahrib (sunset prayers) in Ed Daein on Thursday.

Witnesses told Radio Dabanga that a group of unknown gunmen driving three Land Cruisers accosted Kobe and his brother as they inspected a brickfield he owns in the city.

The brothers were first bound, then bundled into the vehicles before the men drove off, the witnesses said.

This incident highlights an increasing hazard for business people and traders in Darfur, which is prompting some to demand armed bodyguards.

Sources say that foreign aid workers also run a high risk of being kidnapped for ransom, but as many of them have now left the area, the focus of the kidnappers, whose motive seems ‘purely financial’, has shifted towards local businessmen.

As reported previously by Radio Dabanga, several major traders from Nyala in South Darfur have already relocated their businesses to Khartoum, to the detriment of the local economy.

File photo: A Darfur trader (by Sharon Lukunka/UNAMID)

Related:

S Darfur traders moving to Sudan capital amid poor security (20 March 2013)

Director of Qatar charity attacked in his Nyala home, S. Darfur (27 February 2013)