KHARTOUM: Three Russian helicopter crew members kidnapped in Sudan’s restive Darfur region have been freed, officials said Tuesday, with one report indicating force was used to secure their release.
Sudanese army spokesman Sawarmi Khaled Saad and the Kremlin’s special envoy to Khartoum Mikhail Margelov both said the trio were released after intensive negotiations with the abductors but did not say if a ransom was paid.
"The three Russian pilots were freed last night (Monday)," following negotiations with the abductors, the army spokesman said.
Russian envoy Margelov confirmed the release in statements carried by the Russian news agency Interfax.
"The negotiations lasted several hours and were crowned with success. The group that was holding our pilots released them," Margelov said. He did not say if any ransom was paid.
Abdel Hamid Kasha, the governor of South Darfur state, where the men were abducted Sunday at gunpoint, however, gave a different version of events.
"Border guards freed the Russians after clashes with the kidnappers," Kasha told the Sudanese Media Centre, which is close to Sudan’s intelligence services.
The news outlet had earlier said "specialized services" fought with the abductors and suggested there had been casualties. "The toll (from the fighting) has not yet been announced," the report said.
There was no immediate confirmation from the Khartoum authorities as to whether force had been used to end the kidnapping.
A diplomat at the Sudan consulate, Evgeni Arjantsev, meanwhile said that the three men were Tuesday back in Nyala, capital of South Darfur state, from where they were seized by a small group of armed men on Sunday.
Interfax had earlier quoted Margelov as identifying the three as the captain of a Mi-8 helicopter and two crew members, who worked for private aviation company Badr.
"The helicopter was carrying food and other civilian supplies for the United Nations mission to Darfur," Margelov said.
Darfur has been gripped by civil war since 2003 that has left 300,000 people dead and 2.7 million displaced, according to the United Nations. Khartoum says 10,000 have been killed in the conflict.
The strife-torn region has seen a wave of kidnappings since March 2009, when the International Criminal Court indicted Sudan’s President Omar al-Bashir for alleged war crimes there, with 23 foreigners seized.
With the release of the Russians, no foreigners remain in captivity.
On Monday, a US aid worker who had been held for more than 100 days was finally released by her abductors after negotiations with the authorities, Sudan foreign ministry spokesman Moawiya Osman said, stressing however that no ransom had been paid.
Flavia Wagner, 35, who works for US aid group Samaritan’s Purse, was released after a 105-day ordeal, officials said.
Colleagues had seen her "and report that she is well. She said she is looking forward to being reunited with her family in the United States," Samaritan’s Purse said in a statement on Monday.
"We thank God that Flavia is safe and free," said Franklin Graham, president of the American aid group. "We appreciate the help of the government of Sudan and the United States government."
Wagner — who was seized on May 18 along with two Sudanese colleagues who were freed within days — was the first Western woman to have been held alone in Darfur.
All foreigners kidnapped since March 2009 have since been freed unharmed.
In July, a Russian helicopter pilot was taken prisoner after landing in South Darfur to pick up a group of rebels and transport them to Chad for peace talks. He was freed four days later.
