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. They were thought to have been abducted by Janjaweed, meaning "man with a gun on a horse".

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

Commins, an only daughter, was in her thirties at the time of her kidnapping 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. Commins studied at Dublin City University (DCU), earning a Master's degree in international relations.

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. She used her learning of the Arabic language to the advantage of herself and Commins throughout their time in captivity.

Commins and Kawuki were planning to watch television inside their Kutum compound on the evening of 3 July 2009. Three men entered and ordered them at gunpoint into their vehicle. Computers and mobile phones were also taken. They were transported for a period of a number of hours until they approached the Chad border as their kidnappers repeated, "No problem, this is strictly business".

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