Freed French aid workers 'feared for lives'

Two French charity workers abducted in the Central African Republic have been released in Sudan’s Darfur after a four-month ordeal. Olivier Denis and Olivier Frappe were working for Triangle Generation Humanitaire when they were taken in November 2009.

Reuters

The pair arrived late on Sunday in the Sudanese capital Khartoum, where Denis told journalists they had feared for their lives at the start of their ordeal.

"There were (threats) then the tone calmed down - sometimes they started again when they got impatient and initially we feared for our lives," Denis said.

In a statement issued in Paris, French President Nicolas Sarkozy expressed his delight at their release.

He also also called for release of the International Committee of the Red Cross worker Gauthier Lefevre, who was abducted in Darfur last October.

The French-British dual national was kidnapped in West Darfur near the border with Chad.

An armed group in Darfur called the Freedom Eagles of Africa said in November it abducted Denis and Frappe and Red Cross worker Laurent Maurice, as well as two other aid workers, a Frenchwoman and a Canadian.

Maurice was released last month, while the Frenchwoman and Canadian were freed last April.

A spokesman for the group, Abu Mohammed al-Rizeigi, told AFP at the time of November's kidnappings that it wanted France to "change policy in the region".