Kidnapped Red Cross workers freed

Reuters/Ethiomedia | September 22, 2006

"He was released and is now safely back in his base," a spokesman for Ireland's Department of Foreign Affairs said of Irish aid worker Donal O'Suilleabhain.

His Ethiopian colleague had also been freed and both were "very well, completely unharmed", the spokesman added.

Irish Minister for Foreign Affairs Dermot Ahern welcomed what he said had been a "safe and unconditional" release.

"My officials ... and I have worked behind the scenes to secure his safe and speedy return," he said in a statement. "Let me also acknowledge the central role played by the Red Cross in bringing this matter to a successful conclusion."

The aid workers were kidnapped on Monday while working about 50 km (31 miles) outside Gode town in Ethiopia's southeastern Ogaden area, located within the Somali region.

The ICRC in Ethiopia also reported the release of O'Suilleabhain and his Ethiopian colleague Hadis Ahmed Samatar.

"They are in good health and were released without conditions," a statement said.

ICRC deputy head in Ethiopia, Juerg Eglin, said the humanitarian agency had not yet made a decision on whether to lift a suspension of its activities in the region.

Eglin said on Friday that the ICRC had temporarily halted its operations in the area because of the kidnapping.

A little known ethnic Somali rebel group, the United Western Somali Liberation Front, said that it abducted the Red Cross workers, mistaking them for workers from foreign companies exploring for oil and gas in the Ogaden part of Ethiopia. Another rebel group reported to have been active in the Ogaden, the Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF) condemned the kidnappings as an act of 'thuggery,' according to the pro-ONLF Ogaden Online.

Red Cross workers need support, not kidnappings, the website said.