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Kidnapped Peacekeeping Staffer Freed in Darfur

05 January 2011 21:50 (UTC +04:00)

Baku â€“ APA. A civilian staff member of peacekeepers in Sudan’s Darfur region has been released after 90 days in captivity, APA reports quoting â€œThe Voice of Americaâ€.
The joint U.N.-African Union peacekeeping force in Darfur said Wednesday that the man, a Hungarian national, is free and in good health. The statement said he is being flown to the Sudanese capital, Khartoum.
Unidentified gunmen kidnapped the civilian worker and two others from their compound in the North Darfur capital, El Fasher, in October. Two of the hostages managed to quickly get away from the abductors.
The kidnapping occurred while envoys of the U.N. Security Council were in the Darfur region.
The U.N.-AU mission says a total of 10 peacekeepers have been abducted since the beginning of the mission in 2008.
Darfur rebels took up arms against Sudan’s central government in 2003. The U.N. says fighting and related violence have killed about 300,000 people since then and displaced about 2.7 million others.