HESSTON, Kan. — An American United Nations worker who was among six people kidnapped in the Democratic Republic of Congo was doing humanitarian work and has had some success in persuading militia leaders to give up child soldiers, his father said.
Michael Sharp, 34, believes that years of violence in eastern Congo have solved nothing and was working to do something about it, his father, John Sharp, told The Wichita Eagle.
Michael Sharp and a Swedish U.N. worker, Zahida Katalan, were abducted along with three Congolese drivers and a translator while driving through the Kasai Central province, a Congo government spokesman said Monday.
The kidnappers hadn’t been identified as of Monday. Judicial authorities in the province were working with the U.N. mission in Congo to free the abductees.
John Sharp, who lives with his wife, Michele Miller Sharp, in the central Kansas community of Hesston and teaches at Hesston College, said their son is resourceful and knew the risks.
“We’re hopeful,” John Sharp said. “The U.N. has been good about staying in touch with us. M.J. is resourceful. He’s smart. He knows the culture, knows the games. If anybody can get out, he will.”
John Sharp said that with the U.N., his son has had some success in persuading militia leaders to give up child soldiers. He said he last spoke to his son in late February.