Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
07NDJAMENA66
2007-01-24 15:17:00
UNCLASSIFIED
Embassy Ndjamena
Cable title:  

SUDANESE COMMERCIAL AIRCRAFT HIJACKED TO N'DJAMENA

Tags:  ASEC CASC EAIR PTER CD SU 
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VZCZCXRO7271
RR RUEHGI RUEHMA RUEHROV
DE RUEHNJ #0066 0241517
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 241517Z JAN 07
FM AMEMBASSY NDJAMENA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 4827
INFO RUCNFUR/DARFUR COLLECTIVE
UNCLAS NDJAMENA 000066 

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: ASEC CASC EAIR PTER CD SU
SUBJECT: SUDANESE COMMERCIAL AIRCRAFT HIJACKED TO N'DJAMENA


UNCLAS NDJAMENA 000066

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: ASEC CASC EAIR PTER CD SU
SUBJECT: SUDANESE COMMERCIAL AIRCRAFT HIJACKED TO N'DJAMENA



1. A Sudanese Air West passenger aircraft reportedly en
route from Khartoum to El Fasher and Niyalla January 24 was
hijacked by a young Sudanese man and diverted to N,Djamena.
The Minister of Public Security,s chief of staff, who was
at N,Djamena Airport when the aircraft arrived around 10:30
this morning, told the Regional Security Officer that the
hijacker was armed with a handgun and a knife and that all
103 passengers and 9 crew aboard the aircraft were unharmed.
The hijacker is in the custody of Chadian National Security
Agency (ANS) officers.


2. Embassy consular, regional security and office of the
defense attache officers visited airport following arrival of
the hijacked aircraft and established that none of the
passengers or crew aboard were U.S. citizens. Embassy
officers saw the passengers in the airport departure lounge
where Chadian authorities had grouped them for questioning
and processing.


3. Chadian officials credit USG anti-terrorism training as
instrumental in their prompt reaction and handling of this
case. The Chief of Staff of the Ministry of Public Security,
Abdlramane Assane Boudina, who attended ATA Senior Crisis
Management course in Washington, D.C., was on the scene and
actively engaged. He told embassy officers that the actual
hijacking scenario was the mirror image of a mock incident
dealt with in the course. He said that as soon as he learned
the plane would be landing in N'Djamena, he put into action
the skills he had learned -- setting up a security
perimeter, getting hostage negotiators to the scene and
alerting relevant law enforcement branches of the situation.
Chadian response measures also included deployment of an
explosives (EOD) expert who had attended the Department,s
Explosive Incident Countermeasures Course.
WALL