N'DJAMENA (AFP) — An American humanitarian worker participating in an aid project was captured by Toubou rebels in Tibesti, northern Chad, rebels confirmed on Thursday.
"The Movement for Democracy and Justice in Chad (MDJT) has detained an American aid worker ... in the the area controlled by the MDJT," according to a statement obtained by AFP from a branch of the armed rebel group.
Cash Steve Goldbold, was abducted on October 10 by Tubu rebels, according to MDJT leader Aboubakar Choua Dazi, who spoke to AFP via telephone.
Goldbold, 48, is an evangelical Christian aid worker on mission for the Development Association of Tibesti, according to documents obtained by AFP.
The MDJT "suspects this person is in the service of the regime in N'Djamena to create division in the center of the movement," said Dazi, assuring that their hostage "is in good health and well-treated."
Goldbold was captured in the Tibesti area, about 1,000 kilometres (620 miles) north of N'Djamena, the capital, he added.
"The local population tried to negotiate to free him," according to a member of his group who confirmed his abduction to AFP and asked not to be identified. The source said that Goldbold, from Miami, Florida, US, had been in Chad since 1992.
Goldbold has lived in the area "for the past five years, and he is not a foreigner" there, adding that he "has a Toubou name, Wordougou Mollia," the source said.
The MDJT is "inclined to liberate this person" to send him back to "his own country," but warned the authorities "of all attempts to take him by force," according to the statement.
It "called on all foreign aid workers to not venture into the areas controlled by the MDJT."
Created in 1988, MDJT has harassed the Deby government, but it is no longer the serious threat it represented to N'Djamena under its founder Youssouf Togoimi, who died in 2002.
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