Kidnapping of Sharon Commins and Hilda Kawuki

The kidnapping of Sharon Commins and Hilda Kawuki was an international hostage crisis which lasted from 3 July until 18 October 2009. Sharon Commins, an aid worker from Clontarf, Dublin, Ireland, and Hilda Kawuki, a Ugandan colleague, were abducted from a compound run by the GOAL aid agency in north Darfur, Sudan.^[1] They were thought to have been abducted by the Janjaweed.^[2]

It was Darfur's longest running kidnap case involving humanitarian workers,^[3][4][5][6] lasting for more than one hundred days,^[7] and the third kidnapping in the region since March 2009.^[8] It also marked the first time any of GOAL's charity workers experienced a kidnapping whilst in action.^[9] There had been a concern that a major shootout would end the siege, however the end occurred peacefully.^[10] The Irish, Sudanese and Ugandan governments all refused demands for a ransom to be paid.^[11][12][13]

Commins, an only daughter,^[14] was in her thirties at the time of her kidnapping^[7] and had worked for GOAL for four years and had been in Darfur for eighteen months previous to her abduction. She was a project manager in Darfur, also wrote reports for the organisation and was previously a press secretary.^[15] Commins studied at Dublin City University (DCU), earning a Master's degree in international relations.^[15]

Kawuki, a nutritionist in her forties at the time of the kidnapping, had worked for GOAL for just over one year and this had been her first time working for the organisation.^[11] She used her learning of the Arabic language to the advantage of herself and Commins throughout their time in captivity.^[11]