French Red Cross worker Laurent Maurice arrived in Khartoum on Saturday hours after being freed following 89 days in captivity, first in Chad and then in Sudan’s volatile Darfur region.
A smiling Maurice, wearing sandals and sporting a thick black beard, underwent medical tests at the Al-Amal Al-Watani military hospital after being flown into the capital.
“Having spent three months in captivity, I now feel the need for freedom, and to see my friends, my family and my colleagues,” the 37-year-old agronomist said.
PHOTO: REUTERS
He said he had not been beaten or threatened by his kidnappers — a shadowy group calling itself the Falcons for the Liberation of Africa.
Maurice was seized by armed men on Nov. 9, last year in eastern Chad, where he was assessing the harvest, just 10km from the Sudanese border.
The group then took him to Darfur, the scene since 2003 of a brutal war and wave of kidnappings of foreigners in the past year.
“I was alone during the day and at night they had me come to the campfire to eat. We were always outside in the middle of the bush,” Maurice said.
He said it was quickly clear to him that his the kidnappers didn’t intend to harm him and that the worst were the psychological aspects of being a hostage, made more difficult by his kidnappers not speaking French.
In order the pass the time Maurice said he played cards and thought of family and friends.
“I thought about being freed and what would happen afterwards. Hope springs eternal as they say,” he said.
On Saturday his kidnappers said they freed Maurice because of France’s “positive role” in repairing ties between Chad and Sudan.
“We have indeed released Laurent Maurice. We did not act for money but because we wanted France to change its policies in the region,” Abu Mohammed al-Rizeigi, spokesman for the group, said by telephone.
“We appreciate the positive role that France has played in the latest negotiations between Chad and Sudan,” Rizeigi said.
Sudan and Chad, which have traded accusations of supporting rebel groups in each other’s countries, are in the process of setting up a joint peace force along their border.
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said earlier that no ransom was paid.
Maurice “regained his freedom today... after 89 days in captivity, he is tired but appears to be in good health,” the ICRC said, adding fellow staff member Gauthier Lefevre, kidnapped in Darfur, was still being held.
“ICRC policy is to never pay a ransom,” a spokesman said.
Sudan’s Minister of Humanitarian Affairs Abdel Baqi Gilani echoed these remarks and said: “No ransom was paid. Sudan, however, gave logistic help by providing vehicles and fuel during the mediation.”
The ICRC declined to give details about Maurice’s release in order not to jeopardize negotiations for the release of Lefevre, who was kidnapped in October in West Darfur.
Paris welcomed the release with French President Nicolas Sarkozy calling for the quick release of all other French aid workers being held in Africa — remarks echoed by Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner.
“Targeting non-governmental organizations and their staff — to whom I pay tribute — is unacceptable,” Kouchner said.
The Falcons group has also claimed the kidnapping of two other French aid workers, whom Rizeigi said are “still with us.”
The ICRC said it “remains very concerned about Mr Lefevre and continues to press for his unconditional release.”
Jordi Raich, the head of the ICRC’s delegation in Sudan, did not say how Maurice had been freed.
“The ICRC is relieved that Laurent is now free, and happy that he will soon be back with his family and friends,” he said. “We would like to express our profound gratitude to all those who helped us in one way or another during his captivity.”
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