The Sudanese government is holding intensive contacts with Libya on a
Sudanese passenger plane which was hijacked to Libya from the restive western
Sudanese region of Darfur yesterday.
"Intensive contacts are being held with the Libyan authorities on how to deal
with the hijack issue," the Sudanese Civil Aviation Authority announced in an
urgent statement.
It said the plane, a Boeing 737, belonged to Sunair, a Khartoum-based private
airline, and was carrying 87 passengers besides 8 crew members when it was
hijacked.
The plane, which was on a routine flight between Niyala and Khartoum took off
from the Niyala Airport in South Darfur State at17:30 local time (14:30 GMT) but
was hijacked 30 minutes later.
The statement did not mention the number of the hijackers, nor the motives
behind the action.
Meanwhile, a spokesman of the Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM)-Minawi Faction
said three of their senior members were aboard the hijacked plane.
The SLM-Minawi Faction signed a peace agreement with the Sudanese government
in 2006 while most of the other rebel groups refused the peace deal, demanding
more compromises from the government.
The spokesman, Mohammed Bashir, said the three persons included an adviser of
the former rebel group's leader Mini Arkou Minawi and one of the designers of
the 2006 Darfur Peace Agreements.
Libya's Civil Aviation Authority confirmed the plane had landed at al-Kufrah,
an oasis town in the country's southeast, Libya's state news agency Jana
reported.
The Dubai-based Al Arabiya TV said the plane flew to al-kufrah to refuel and
the hijacker wanted the plane to fly to Cairo.
The Egyptian state news agency MENA quoted Sunair as saying four men hijacked
the plane. It said the Egyptian authorities have denied the permission for the
plane's landing.