WORLD> Africa
Kidnapped foreign aid workers arrive in Khartoum
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2009-03-15 13:55

KHARTOUM - Three foreign aid workers with the Belgian branch of the Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) who were kidnapped in Sudan's Darfur region arrived in Khartoum on Saturday evening.

Osman Mohammed Yousef Kiber, governor of North Darfur State, told reporters at the Khartoum Airport that the hostages -- an Italian, a French and a Canadian -- were released earlier Saturday after negotiations with local government officials.

The governor who accompanied the hostages said the armed men who kidnapped the three at a working site of MSF at the Saraf Umraarea in North Darfur on Wednesday night identified themselves as "al-Bashir's eagles."

The kidnappers also claimed that the abduction was aimed to protest against an arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC) against Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, the Sudanese official said.

"The kidnappers noted that the operation came to protest against the targeting of the Sudanese president by the International Criminal Court," the Sudanese governor said.

"We have convinced them that such an incident would damage the nation and the abductees must be released immediately," he added.

Meanwhile, Mohamed Naguib, director-general of the Sudanese police, said the hostages would undergo medical examinations in Khartoum to ensure their health.

He said the Sudanese authorities had taken necessary precautions to avert the repetition of such an incident.

Two Sudanese employees with the MSF, kidnapped together with the three foreigners, were also freed by the kidnappers several hours later.

The kidnapping probably heralded an escalation of tension in Sudan following the ICC issued an arrest warrant against al-Bashiron March 4 for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in the western Sudanese region of Darfur.

On March 5, the Sudanese government announced a sudden decision to expel 13 foreign nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) operating in Darfur, accusing them of passing "false and fabricated information" to the ICC, a charge denied by relief agencies.

Khartoum asked two branches of the MSF to leave the country, but the MSF-Belgium was not among them.

The MSF said on Friday it had suspended all operations in Darfur and withdrew about 30 international staff to Khartoum as a precautious security measure following the kidnapping.

Two days before the kidnapping taking place, the US Embassy in Sudan said that nonessential staff and families in the embassy had been authorized to leave Sudan due to uncertain security conditions in the African country.

The Sudanese government criticized the move, terming it as "unjustifiable and dubious" in view of the stable conditions in the country after the issuance of the ICC's arrest warrant against President al-Bashir.