29-03-2024 12:28 AM Jerusalem Timing

UN: Aid Workers Freed after 32 Days in Captivity in Darfur

UN: Aid Workers Freed after 32 Days in Captivity in Darfur

Three Sudanese employees of international aid agencies were released on Saturday in the troubled Darfur region after 32 days in captivity

Three Sudanese employees of international aid agencies were released on Saturday in the troubled Darfur region after 32 days in captivity, peacekeepers said.
  
"They appear to be unharmed and in good condition," the African Union-UN Mission in Darfur (UNAMID) said in a statement.
  
Mustafa Abdalla Adarge, of the United Nations children's agency UNICEF, was freed along with two staff from the Irish aid group GOAL, Mohamed Abu Elgassem and Ahmed Elsayed, in North Darfur state's Kutum district, UNAMID said.
  
GOAL had confirmed on June 20 that two of its employees were "abducted by an unknown group" while driving on a routine assignment near Kutum town. It said a third Sudanese was also taken, but did not identify him as working for UNICEF.
  
UNAMID did not say who kidnapped the trio, but the mission's chief, Mohamed Ibn Chambas, "expressed the mission's gratitude to the government of Sudan, Sudan's National Intelligence and Security Service and the wali (governor) of North Darfur for their valuable assistance in the safe release of the humanitarian workers." The three were among 25 aid workers taken by "armed men" in Kutum on June 18. All of the others had been released earlier, UNAMID said.