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 
 
 
¶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