New York, Dec 14: Two civilian members of the joint United Nations-African Union peacekeeping mission in Darfur who were held hostage for more than 100 days have been released, the UN has said.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s office released a statement yesterday saying he was ‘deeply gratified’ to learn of the development.
The two staffers, a man and a woman, were taken at gunpoint in West Darfur on August 29. The abductors have not been publicly identified.
The United Nations has been involved in delicate diplomacy to get cooperation on the issue from Sudan’s President Omar al-Bashir.
The International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for the Sudanese leader in March on charges of orchestrating war crimes and crimes against humanity in Darfur.
But a week ago, Ban called al-Bashir “on humanitarian grounds” to seek help in freeing the two hostages, one of whom was said by the UN to be gravely ill.
UN spokesman Martin Nesirky had said it was the first call between the secretary-general and al-Bashir since the arrest warrant was issued. Al-Bashir has refused to recognize the tribunal’s authority.
–Agencies