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Sudan rebels free six Bulgarian aid workers: UN

Sunday, 01 February 2015 10:04 PM [ Last Update: Sunday, 01 February 2015 10:21 PM ]

Six Bulgarian aid workers are released after being held for a week by Sudan rebels. (AFP)

Six Bulgarian UN aid workers have been released after a week in custody of rebels in Sudan, a United Nation agency has announced.

The World Food Program (WFP) said in a Sunday statement that the aid workers, tasked with providing relief aid to the war-wearing people of Sudan and South Sudan, were handed over to South Sudan's Yida Refugee Camp on Sunday and were later flown to the country's capital Juba.

The rebels of Sudan People's Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N), which fights against the Sudanese government, captured them after their Mi-8 helicopter had to make an emergency landing on January 26 in a remote area of Sudan's South Kordofan state, bordering South Sudan.

"It is regrettable that this incident took place. However, we are greatly relieved that the WFP crew members are unhurt and back with us," WFP Executive Director Ertharin Cousin said.

Accordingly, governments of South Sudan and Sudan in coordination with the Bulgarian government and the WFP facilitated their release without paying any ransom.

Since peace talks fell through in December 2014, fighting has been raging in the states of Blue Nile and South Kordofan, the SPLM-N rebels’ hub along with the Darfur region.

Sudan accuses South Sudan, which seceded from the Republic of Sudan in 2011, of supporting anti-government rebels.

South Sudan became independent on July 9, 2011, after decades of conflict with the north.

HJM/NT/AS

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