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Sudan says airliner hijacked in southern Darfur
Mohamed Osman
Issue date: 8/27/08 Section: News
The civil aviation chief in Egypt, Emad Salaam, said the airliner belongs to a private company, Sun Air, and was carrying 95 passengers - a mix of civilians and local Darfur officials - plus an unspecified number of crew members.
The politicians on board were members of the Darfur Transitional Authority, an interim government body responsible for implementing a peace agreement between rebel factions and Sudan's government, a security official at Nyala airport said. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to media.
Sudan has had previous hijackings, most recently in January 2007, when a man hijacked a plane taking off from Khartoum and forced the pilot at gunpoint to fly to neighboring Chad, then surrendered. None of the more than 100 passengers was hurt.
But such incidents are rare in Darfur, an impoverished region where up to 300,000 people have died and more than 2.5 million have been displaced since a rebellion began early in 2003.
Although officials said there was no indication of any connection, the hijacking came a day after one of the worst attacks in recent months on a Darfur refugee camp - just 15 miles from Nyala airport, where the plane took off.
The politicians on board were members of the Darfur Transitional Authority, an interim government body responsible for implementing a peace agreement between rebel factions and Sudan's government, a security official at Nyala airport said. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to media.
Sudan has had previous hijackings, most recently in January 2007, when a man hijacked a plane taking off from Khartoum and forced the pilot at gunpoint to fly to neighboring Chad, then surrendered. None of the more than 100 passengers was hurt.
But such incidents are rare in Darfur, an impoverished region where up to 300,000 people have died and more than 2.5 million have been displaced since a rebellion began early in 2003.
Although officials said there was no indication of any connection, the hijacking came a day after one of the worst attacks in recent months on a Darfur refugee camp - just 15 miles from Nyala airport, where the plane took off.
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