Fate of Dutch doctor missing in Dagestan still unknown

The international medical aid group Medecins sans Frontieres (MSF), knownin English as Doctors Without Borders, still possesses no information aboutits member, Dutch national Arjan Erkel, who was kidnapped in Makhachkala(Dagestan) on August 12, 2002. Erkel headed the organization's mission inDagestan, a republic neighboring Chechnya. A source in the Moscow office ofMedecins sans Frontieres reported to RBC that they were concerned about thefate of Erkel and demanded his immediate and unconditional liberation. TheMSF officials also reported that they were not going to resume operationsin Ingushetia, Chechnya and Dagestan yet.MSF decided to suspend its operations after Arjan Erkel had been kidnappedin Dagestan and after the abduction of Nina Davidovich, the head of theDruzhba local aid agency, in Chechnya. Medecins sans Frontieres suspendedoperations in Ingushetia, Dagestan and Chechnya for an indefinite period.Nevertheless, this international organization kept its offices in Nazran,Makhachkala and Khasavyurt open for contacts with local residents and forfollowing further development of the situation..