Red Cross says aid worker kidnapped in Darfur freed after 5 months as hostage

Kidnapped Red Cross worker freed in Darfur

GENEVA — A French aid worker kidnapped in Darfur five months ago was freed Thursday, the International Committee of the Red Cross and the French government said.

Gauthier Lefevre was freed close to al-Geneina, the West Darfur capital, and was in good health, the ICRC said. He was taken hostage near the city on Oct. 22 by an unidentified group while working to help local communities upgrade water supply systems.

French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner welcomed Lefevre’s release as “a relief and a great joy.”

The ICRC had said the kidnappers were seeking a ransom.

Spokeswoman Dorothea Krimitsas said the aid group didn’t make any payments to secure Lefevre’s release, while Kouchner’s statement gave no details of how the Frenchman was liberated or if a ransom was paid.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy sent a statement thanking the Sudanese authorities “for their particularly valuable help in managing this crisis.”

The statement didn’t provide details.

Lefevre’s release comes days after two French humanitarian workers also held hostage in Darfur were freed. The two employees of the Lyon, France-based Triangle Humanitarian Generation aid group were seized in Central African Republic, which neighbors Sudan.

The ICRC has worked in Sudan since 1978, providing emergency aid, medical care and other services to civilians affected by armed conflict in the south of the country and more recently in Darfur.