Kidnapped Red Cross staffer freed

An employee of the International Committee of the Red Cross who was kidnapped in Darfur last October hasbeen freed, an ICRC official said.

An employee of the International Committee of the Red Cross with joint British-French citizenship who was kidnapped in Darfur last October has been freed, an ICRC official said.

"He has just been released after five months in captivity," the official told AFP.

"He is currently being taken by helicopter to El Geneina," the state capital of West Darfur.

Gauthier Lefevre, 35, who had worked for the ICRC for five years - 15 months of them in Darfur - was freed on Thursday.

He travelling in convoy of two vehicles clearly marked with the ICRC's logo when he was seized by gunmen near the Chadian border on October 22.

He has the unenviable record of having spent the longest time in captivity of any hostage - 147 days - since a wave of kidnappings of foreign aid workers began in March last year.


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Source: AFP

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