Abducted Swiss aid worker freed

KHARTOUM: Sudanese authorities have freed a Swiss humanitarian worker who was abducted in the war-torn southern region of Darfur last month, the deputy governor of North Darfur, Mohamed Barima, told Reuters yesterday.

Sudanese authorities previously said they believed a criminal gang had abducted the Swiss woman outside her home near the city of al-Fashir and the Swiss government has called for her immediate release.

Barima said the woman was in good health and being held at a security headquarters in the southern town of Kutum in North Darfur.

The Swiss and Sudanese governments have not identified the woman.

A spokesman for the North Darfur government said security forces launched an operation early yesterday morning to free the woman from where she was being held in a rural area just outside Kutum.

Sudanese officials did not name a group responsible for the kidnapping or provide further details of the rescue operation.

Khartoum has been at war with rebel groups in Darfur since 2003, when mainly nonArab tribes took up arms against Sudan’s Arab-led government.

Sudan has been keen to show it is making progress in winding down long- standing conflicts after the United States lifted 20-year old sanctions last month. Just after the sanctions decision Khartoum announced it would extend a unilateral ceasefire with rebels until the end of December. — Reuters