Russian air crew freed in Darfur

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 "specialised 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.

AFP