‘False dawns’ in bid to get aid worker released

THERE have been several “false dawns” in the campaign to get Irish aid worker Sharon Commins freed from captivity in Sudan, Foreign Affairs Minister Micheál Martin has admitted.

GOAL worker Ms Commins, from Clontarf in Dublin, and her colleague Hilda Kawuki from Uganda, were abducted at gunpoint from their compound in the Darfur region in early July.

“Two or three weeks ago, we’d have been hopeful of their release – that didn’t materialise – but we’re consistently working through the [Sudanese] government and with the Government,” said Mr Martin.

The Department of Foreign Affairs had received assurances that both women were in good physical health and their welfare was okay, he said. While he hoped their release could be affected soon, he did not wish to raise hopes prematurely, he added.

Mr Martin again paid tribute to the Commins family “for their fortitude and the dignity with which they’ve born this terrible ordeal”.