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Abducted U.S. aid worker released in Darfur

by reuters | Thomson Reuters Foundation
Monday, 30 August 2010 15:22 GMT

* Freed American woman works for U.S. charity

* Russia says three-member aircrew kidnapped

(Adds Russian statement about three aircrew kidnapped)

By Opheera McDoom

KHARTOUM, Aug 30 (Reuters) - A U.S. aid worker was released in Darfur on Monday after being held by her kidnappers for more than 100 days, a Sudanese foreign ministry spokesman said.

News of the release came a day after members of a Russian aircrew were kidnapped in Sudan's western Darfur region. Russia's Foreign Ministry said on Monday three crew had been taken, after earlier reports said only two had been seized.

Abductions are made mostly by young men from Arab tribes who demand ransoms. Khartoum has yet to prosecute any kidnappers and reports of ransoms being paid in the past have fuelled the crimes.

The freed woman was working for U.S. charity Samaritan's Purse in Darfur.

"She has been released this morning. She is in good health," Sudanese Foreign Ministry spokesman Moawia Osman said.

Her kidnappers said they had released her to the South Darfur authorities without being paid a ransom.

"We have demands from the government like developing our areas -- we want hospitals, education -- if these demands are met these kidnappings will no longer happen," one of the kidnappers, Abu Mohamed al-Semeh, said by satellite phone.

Russia's Foreign Ministry said the three members of the aircrew -- pilot, co-pilot and engineer -- were kidnapped in a minibus in which they were travelling by men in camouflage.

"According to preliminary information, the crew is being held in the town of Nyala and has not been taken outside of the town," the Russian ministry said in a statement.

The abductions have targeted foreign aid workers and U.N.-African Union (UNAMID) peacekeepers since the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for President Omar Hassan al-Bashir last year.

Bashir responded by expelling 13 of the largest aid agencies working in Darfur helping some 4 million people in one of the world's largest humanitarian crises, accusing them of giving information to the court.

The ICC added genocide to charges against Bashir this year.

(Additional reporting by Moscow bureau, editing by Edmund Blair and Michael Roddy)

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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