French, Canadian aid workers freed in Darfur

Two aid workers kept hostage for three weeks in Darfur, one French and one Canadian, were freed Thursday, France’s foreign minister said.

The two women, sent to Darfur by non-governmental group International Medical Aid, were in good health, Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said. They were brought to the Sudanese capital, Khartoum.

The two women, Stephanie Jodoin of Canada, and Claire Dubois of France, were seized April 4 in southwest Darfur and released Wednesday, International Medical Aid, according to a statement.

Kouchner expressed thanks Thursday to those who helped free the workers. Neither he nor the aid group would elaborate on the release.

The semiofficial Sudan Media Center said 13 kidnappers traveling in two vehicles and on a camel seized the hostages and took them to an area about 100 kilometers (60 miles) east of the town of al-Genaina in west Darfur.

The Sudan Media Center said no ransom was paid to free them, and a tribal chief mediated the release.

The reason the two were seized was unclear, but the Sudan Media Center, quoting an unnamed security official, said it was linked to resentment in Darfur concerning the 2007 kidnapping by a French aid group of about 100 children in the region.