RUSSIA: INTERNATIONAL CHARITY MEDECINES SANS FRONTIERES CRITICISES RUSSIA FOR FAILING TO SECURE RELEASE OF KIDNAPPED AID WORKER

Record ID: 648412

  • Title: RUSSIA: INTERNATIONAL CHARITY MEDECINES SANS FRONTIERES CRITICISES RUSSIA FOR FAILING TO SECURE RELEASE OF KIDNAPPED AID WORKER
  • Date: 14th August 2003
  • Summary: (EU) MOSCOW, RUSSIA (AUGUST 12, 2003) (REUTERS) 1. MV MEDECINES SANS FRONTIERES (MSF) STAFF WITH PICTURES OF CAPTURED AID WORKER ARJAN ERKEL; SCU POSTER CALLING FOR RELEASE OF ARJAN ERKEL; MV MSF WORKERS PUTTING ON "WHERE IS ARJAN?" T-SHIRTS (4 SHOTS) 0.36 2. MV DIK ERKEL, FATHER OF KIDNAPPED MSF WORKER ARJAN ERKEL SPEAKING WITH MEDIA 0.44 3. (SOUNDBITE) (English) DIK ERKEL, FATHER OF KIDNAPPED MSF WORKER ARJAN ERKEL, SAYING "From the moment, to today, from one year ago, everything has changed. For the children, for his mother, for me, for his friends, for his colleagues. And the longer it takes, the impact of his abduction is growing." 1.01 4. (SOUNDBITE) (English) ROOS ERKEL, SISTER OF ARJAN ERKEL, SAYING "It is heavy. It is very long, but it is most awful situation for Arjan himself. He is all alone, he cannot decide what to do and he is unhappy and that is most hard for us." 1.23 5. MV ROOS ERKEL AND DIK ERKEL STANDING EITHER SIDE OF POSTER; SLV MSF WORKERS DEMONSTRATING; SLV MSF WORKERS ADDRESSING MEETING (4 SHOTS) 1.44 6. (SOUNDBITE) (English) MORTEN ROSTRUP, PRESIDENT OF MSF INTERNATIONAL, SAYING "For the first phase of this kidnapping, we trusted quite a lot in the Russian authorities that they were able to solve the case. We also thought the Dutch government would do whatever they could do to solve the case. In addition, we have started, in a way, contacts of our own in the region to try to see if we could get closer to Arjan and where he is. But whenever we were in a way getting a bit close, then it seemed to be blocked more or less. So, for the time being, we consider that this has been a total failure, that it is really nothing more than a scandal that Arjan is still in captivity now after twelve months. 2.25 7. MV MSF WORKERS; MV POSTER OF ARJAN ERKEL 2.35 (EU) INGUSHETIA-CHECHNYA BORDER, RUSSIA (FILE NOVEMBER 1, 1999) (REUTERS) 8. SLV WAR REFUGEES CROSSING THROUGH ARMED CHECKPOINT (5 SHOTS) 3.08 (EU) SLEPTSOVSK REFUGEE CAMP, INGUSHETIA, RUSSIA (FILE DECEMBER 23, 1999) (REUTERS) 9. SLV REFUGEE FAMILIES IN CAMP (4 SHOTS) 3.26 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
  • Embargoed: 29th August 2003 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: MOSCOW, RUSSIA AND INGUSHETIA, RUSSIA
  • Country: Russia
  • Reuters ID: LVAV80PDLZQT34OBH668GJZA116
  • Story Text: International charity, Medecines Sans Frontieres
    (MSF), criticises Russia for failing to secure the release
    of a kidnapped aid worker.

    International charity Medecines Sans Frontieres
    (MSF) has criticised the Russian government for failing to
    help secure the release of one of its staff, a Dutch aid
    worker kidnapped one year ago in the Russian republic of
    Dagestan.

    Family members and colleagues of MSF staffer Arjan
    Erkel say they still hope for Erkel's safe return one year
    after he was captured.

    Erkel, a Dutch national, was seized by three armed
    men on August 12, 2002, in Makhachkala, capital of
    Dagestan, on the eastern border of Chechnya where Russian
    security forces and separatist guerrillas have been locked
    in a decade-long conflict.

    Erkel is the only foreign aid worker still held by
    kidnappers in the North Caucasus where MSF is amongst the
    most active charities working with refugees fleeing the
    Chechnya violence.

    The family of Erkel says the captivity has been an
    ordeal.

    "From the moment, to today, from one year
    ago everything has changed. For the children, for his
    mother, for me, for his friends, for his colleagues. And
    the longer it takes, the impact of his abduction is
    growing," said father Dik Erkel.

    "It is heavy. It is very long, but it is most awful
    situation for Arjan himself. He is all alone, he cannot
    decide what to do and he is unhappy and that is most hard
    for us," said sister Roos Erekl.

    MSF blames the Russian and Dutch government for
    failing to actively pursue Erkel's release.

    "For the first phase of this kidnapping, we trusted
    quite a lot in the Russian authorities that they were able
    to solve the case. We also thought the Dutch government
    would do whatever they could do to solve the case. In
    addition, we have started, in a way, contacts of our own in
    the region to try to see if we could get closer to Arjan
    and where he is. But whenever we were in a way getting a
    bit close, then it seemed to be blocked more or less. So,
    for the time being, we consider that this has been a total
    failure, that it is really nothing more than a scandal that
    Arjan is still in captivity now after 12 months," said MSF
    President Morten Rostrup. Erkel had been coordination
    g humanitarian supplies to
    Chechen refugees in the Khazan-Yurt region of Dagestan and
    was also overseeing MSF's efforts to restore a hospital in
    the Chechen town of Gudermes.

    The Chechen Republic and surrounding region remains a
    war zone. Russian security forces die almost daily in
    attacks from separatist guerrilla forces and thousands of
    refugees have yet to return to their homes.


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