20100207

KHARTOUM (Reuters) - French aid worker Laurent Maurice, who was kidnapped in Chad last year, was released in good health on Saturday after three months in captivity, an International Committee for the Red Cross official said.

Armed men captured Maurice, an agronomist, on November 9, leading the aid group to suspend its activities in the region temporarily. The kidnappers, a group called African Free Eagles, had threatened to kill him and two other French aid workers they held hostage unless Paris began direct negotiations.

"Laurent, who was abducted in Chad, is released and on his way to Khartoum," ICRC spokesman Saleh Dabbakeh told Reuters.

Another ICRC worker, Gauthier Lefevre, who was kidnapped in the neighbouring Sudanese region of Darfur and has dual British-French nationality, is still being held by different kidnappers, Dabbakeh added.

The African Free Eagles, a group of mostly Sudanese and Chadian armed men, said they had released Maurice "on humanitarian grounds" because his conditions were harsh.

However, the group's spokesman Abu Mohamed al-Rizeigi said the main reason was a recent improvement in relations between Sudan and Chad. "This is definitely because of French influence and we want France to do more," he told Reuters.

The two other hostages held by the group were seized in the Central African Republic (CAR) and worked for the French-based aid agency Triangle.

French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner expressed his hope that remaining hostages from non-governmental organisations would be liberated soon. "It is unacceptable to target NGOs and their staff," he said in a statement.

Maurice, was abducted in Kawa in eastern Chad, where he had been working for 10 months.

Chadian President Idriss Deby is due in Khartoum on Monday for a rare visit after the two countries agreed a joint border force to stop rebels from both sides staging attacks across the long and porous frontier.

Rizeigi said his group was negotiating with the CAR government and expected to release the other two hostages "in the near future".

20100207

LAGOS (Reuters) - A Nigerian militant group said on Sunday it had attacked a Royal Dutch Shell oil pipeline in the Niger Delta but the Anglo-Dutch company said it had no reports of any such sabotage.

The Joint Revolutionary Council (JRC), a coalition of ex-militants and community leaders, said in a statement it had disabled a trunk line in the Obunoma area of Rivers state connecting several flow stations to the Bonny export terminal.

"At about midnight today, the patriotic force of the Niger Delta successfully disabled the trunk line belonging to Shell in the swamp of Obunoma," the JRC statement said.

There was no independent confirmation of an attack.

Thousands of militants in the Niger Delta last year handed over weapons under an amnesty programme led by the administration of President Umaru Yar'Adua, bringing a lull in attacks against Africa's biggest oil and gas industry.

But progress in implementing the post-amnesty programme, including the payment of stipends and re-training of former militants, has slowed during Yar'Adua's more than two month absence for medical treatment in Saudi Arabia.

The JRC warned last month that training centres and funding were inadequate for the programme.

The main militant group in the region, the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), called off a three-month old ceasefire a week ago and threatened to unleash an "all-out assault" on the OPEC member's energy industry.

Oil traders expect Nigerian crude oil exports to fall in March because of insecurity.

Years of violence in the Niger Delta have prevented Nigeria from pumping much above 2 million barrels per day of oil, just two thirds of its installed production capacity, costing it around $1 billion a month in lost oil revenues.

20100207

MUNICH, Germany (Reuters) - NATO should develop closer ties with China, India, Pakistan and Russia and become the forum for consultation on global security, the alliance's head said on Sunday, but a senior Russian politician reacted with scepticism.

The four countries all had interests in stability in Afghanistan and could do more to help develop and assist the country, NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said.

"What would be the harm if countries such as China, India, Pakistan and others were to develop closer ties with NATO? I think, in fact, there would only be a benefit, in terms of trust, confidence and cooperation," he said.

NATO should become the global forum with other nations on a host of security issues extending from terrorism, cyber attacks, nuclear proliferation, piracy, climate change and competition for natural resources as well as Afghanistan, he said.

"NATO can be the place where views, concerns and best practices on security are shared by NATO's global partners. And where ... we might work out how to tackle global challenges together," he told a conference in Munich ahead of discussion of a new NATO Strategic Concept due to be approved in November.

Rasmussen said NATO was already working with Pakistan, and other countries stood to gain from a stable Afghanistan. "India has a stake in Afghan stability. China too. And both could help further develop and rebuild Afghanistan. The same goes for Russia," he said.

RUSSIAN SCEPTCISM

A senior Russian politician reacted sceptically to the proposals, saying NATO first had to think globally, and complained that Russia had not been involved in the process.

20100207

AWKA, Nigeria (Reuters) - The incumbent governor of Nigeria's southeastern Anambra state was on Sunday declared the winner of an election which voters and candidates said had been marred by widespread irregularities.

The polls on Saturday in one of Nigeria's most politically turbulent states are the first in a cycle of state and federal votes culminating in presidential elections due in April 2011.

Diplomats and investors hope Africa's most populous nation can avoid a repeat of the chaos seen during the 2007 elections which brought President Umaru Yar'Adua to power, polls marred by widespread ballot-stuffing and voter intimidation.

But the signs from Anambra were not promising.

Voters complained their names were not on electoral rolls, while the main candidates -- including even the winner -- complained of irregularities.

"Peter Obi of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), having satisfied all requirements of the law and scored the highest number of votes, is hereby declared the winner," chief electoral officer Josiah Uwazuronye announced at the INEC electoral commission headquarters in the state capital Awka.

Obi won 97,843 votes, beating ex-state governor Chris Ngige of the opposition Action Congress party with 60,240 votes.

Former central bank governor Chukwuma Soludo of the ruling People's Democratic Party (PDP) took 59,355 votes while ex-state governor Andy Uba of the Labour party polled 26,106 votes.

20100207

CONAKRY (Reuters) - At least one person died in two days of clashes between Christians and Muslims in eastern Guinea and dozens more were injured, but the violence had mostly subsided by Sunday, witnesses and officials said.

Residents of Nzerekore reported widespread gunfire in the town on Saturday, a day after several people were hurt in stone-throwing between residents of the town in the far east of the world's top bauxite exporter.

The trouble appears to have been sparked by a religious dispute but the town is in the home region of wounded junta leader Moussa Dadis Camara, and there are fears the dispute may be manipulated for political reasons.

"The situation is very difficult in Nzerekore and it is still very tense," said a police source, who asked not to be named. "We put in place a curfew but, despite that, clashes continued. We have been told of one dead and many injured."

Residents contacted by Reuters said that the violence had subsided by early afternoon on Sunday but dozens of women and children had left the town, seeking refuge in the bush.

A government delegation is in the town, holding talks with leaders of both sides.

The dispute degenerated into violence last week after a Christian woman, accused of wearing indecent dress while passing Muslims at prayer, was attacked. In retaliation, Christians stoned Muslims trying to pray.

The region is sensitive as local people there have been angered by the sidelining from power of Camara, a member of one of the minority "forestier" ethnic groups of the region.

Camara, who has been held responsible by a U.N. report for the killings of over 150 pro-democracy marchers in Conakry last September, is convalescing in Burkina Faso after suffering head wounds in a December 3 gun attack by an ex-aide.

Last month in Nigerian town Jos, more than 400 people were killed in clashes between Muslims and Christians.

20100207

CAMAGUEY, Cuba (Reuters) - Cuba has launched an ambitious project to ring urban areas with thousands of small farms in a bid to reverse the country's long agricultural decline and ease its chronic economic woes.

The five-year plan calls for growing fruits and vegetables and raising livestock in 4-mile-wide (6.5 kilometer) rings around 150 of Cuba's cities and towns, with the exception of the capital Havana.

The island's Communist authorities hope suburban farming will make food cheaper and more abundant, cut transportation costs, be less reliant on machinery and encourage urban dwellers to leave bureaucratic jobs for more productive labor.

But the government will continue to hold a monopoly on most aspects of food production and distribution, including its control of most of the land in the Communist-run nation.

The pilot program for the project is being conducted in the central city of Camaguey, which the Cuban agriculture ministry has said eventually will have 1,400 small farms covering 52,000 hectares (128,490 acres), just minutes outside the town.

The farms, mostly in private hands but also including some cooperatives and state-owned enterprises, must grow everything organically, and the ministry expects they will produce 75 percent of the food for the city of 320,000 people, with big state-owned farms providing the rest.

On a recent day, dozens of people were hard at work plowing fields, hoeing earth, posting protective covering for crops and putting up fencing as the sun came up.

"This land they gave to us, the private farmers. I have four hectares (10 acres) and now they have leased me eight (20 acres) more," one of the farmers, Camilo Mendoza, told Reuters.

20100207

TRIPOLI (Reuters) - A Libyan court has found Rachid Hamdani, one of two Swiss businessmen whose prosecution has strained ties between Libya and Switzerland, not guilty on charges of violating business rules, his lawyer said on Sunday.

"He is free to leave Libya if there is no appeal," lawyer Salah Zahaf told reporters.

The cases of Hamdani, who works for a construction company, and second Swiss businessman Max Goeldi, have unsettled some of the foreign investors who flocked to Libya after the oil producer emerged from international isolation.

Hamdani and Goeldi were initially found guilty on charges of violating Libya's immigration rules and sentenced to 16 months in jail. Prosecutors later added a second set of charges, for breaching business regulations.

Last month an appeal court overturned Hamdani's conviction on the immigration charges.

A Libyan judge on Saturday fined Goeldi, the head of Libyan operations for Swiss-Swedish engineering firm ABB, 1,000 dinars for violating business rules.

Goeldi's appeal against the immigration conviction will be heard later this month.

The two men have been staying inside the Swiss embassy in Tripoli, where the Libyan authorities have no jurisdiction.

They were barred from leaving Libya in July 2008 after Swiss prosecutors briefly arrested Hannibal Gaddafi, a son of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, on charges of mistreating two domestic employees during a visit to Switzerland.

The charges were later dropped but Libya cut oil supplies to Switzerland and withdrew more than $5 billion in assets from Swiss banks. Libyan officials deny any connection between the arrest in Switzerland and the case of the two businessmen.

aljazeera



Clashes between Christians and Muslims in eastern Guinea have left one person dead and two missing, police have said.

Another 29 people were injured in the city of Nzerekore on Friday and Saturday, they said.

Calm had been restored by Saturday evening, although sporadic gunfire was still heard in the city.

Police ordered a curfew from 7:30pm to 5am after groups of Christians and Muslims had been attacking each other with stones and clubs.

The fighting apparently started after a group of Muslims gathered to open up a mosque which was closed down by authorities late last month because of tensions between the religious communities.

Tensions in Nzerekore, a Christian enclave in the mainly Muslim country, rose last week after a row between a Christian woman and a group of Muslim men.

Some residents said the men had stopped the woman from using a road blocked for prayers and that the woman responded by hitting one of them with a shoe.

Other reports said she was accused of wearing indecent dress.

On Friday Christian youths took their revenge by trying to disturb prayers by driving motorbikes near a mosque.

Christians make up around eight per cent of the population in the West African nation.

ALGIERS, Feb. 6 (Xinhua) -- Algerian army has killed four terrorists in clashes in the northern province of Tipaza, which also left an army officer dead, local el-Khabar newspaper reported Saturday.

During a combing operation by army forces on Thursday night in the mountainous area of Wad Herar, a fierce exchange of fire erupted with a group of up to twenty terrorist elements, the paper quoted unidentified security sources as saying.

The shootout that lasted for over 30 minuets left four terrorists and an army officer dead.

Two soldiers and as many terrorists were also wounded in the confrontation, the sources noted. However, the two injured militants managed to flee the scene.

The forces are currently tracking down the militants who fled into nearby woods in the area, the sources added.

Meanwhile, a security source told the paper that Algerian security forces arrested eight suspects over charges of joining a terrorist group in the northern province of M'sila.

The troops also recovered explosive-making materials and seditious flyers that were in the group's possession.

Among the detainees were suspects with terrorism-related criminal records, the source added.

Algerians have faced an increasing threat by Islamist militants since the 1990s. The security forces have recently launched massive military operations against pro-al-Qaida groups, including al-Qaida in Islamic Maghreb.

CAIRO, Feb. 6 (Xinhua) -- The Cairo-based Arab League (AL) said on Saturday that the International Criminal Court's (ICC) decision to reconsider genocide charge against Sudanese President Omar al- Bashir is "unacceptable."

"This action hampers the ongoing African and Arab efforts to promote peace process in Sudan," the 22-member pan-Arab bloc said in a statement.

The AL statement also called for implementing the initiatives of the African Union (AU), which are widely supported by Arab, African and international powers.

The 53-member AU said on Friday that ICC's decision, which came three months before Sudan's general election, endangers the peace process in Sudan.

The AU has appealed to the UN Security Council to cancel ICC's legal actions against Bashir, but in vain.

Earlier on Tuesday, the AU asked to amend the Rome Statute, on which the ICC is based, to empower the UN General Assembly to defer cases when the Security Council fails.

The ICC appeals chamber judges on Wednesday ordered the ICC pre- trial judges to reconsider their decision not to charge al-Bashir with genocide.

On March 3, 2009, the ICC pre-trial court issued an arrest warrant against al-Bashir, accusing him of war crimes and crimes against humanity. However, the ICC pre-trial chamber found there was insufficient evidence to charge al-Bashir with genocide.

The pre-trial court decision pushed the ICC prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo to appeal the decision on July 6, 2009.

20100206

PORT HARCOURT, Nigeria (Reuters) - Gunmen have abducted an eight-month old baby for ransom in the southern Nigerian oil city of Port Harcourt, police said on Friday.

At least two gunmen seized the child from her family home late on Thursday, Rita Inoma-Abbey, spokeswoman for the police command in Rivers state told reporters.

"Police are trying to establish contact with the gunmen through the phone number they left with the girl's family, apparently to ask for a ransom," she said.

Abduction is rife in and around Port Harcourt, the main city in Nigeria's restive oil-producing Niger Delta. For years the kidnappers targeted primarily expatriate oil workers but recently wealthy Nigerians have been more common victims.

Thousands of gunmen lay down their weapons last year as part of a presidential amnesty aimed at oil militants but critics say common criminals were among those pardoned and warn that crime will rise as ex-rebels seek other sources of income.

20100206

JUBA, Sudan (Reuters) - Clashes between South Sudan's army and northern nomads have killed at least 18 people, an army official said on Friday, highlighting the need to demarcate the border along which much of Sudan's oil lies.

Western powers have emphasized the need to agree on the north-south Sudan border ahead of elections in April and a key southern referendum on independence, which most analysts expect to result in secession in 2011.

"It was a surprise attack. They managed to kill seven -- six soldiers and one civilian," South Sudan's army spokesman Kuol Diem Kuol said of the latest attack on Wednesday.

He added that eight bodies from the attacking Misseriya, northern Sudanese cattle keepers who often graze their herds in the south, were also found in the oil-producing Unity state. An earlier attack killed three from both sides.

After a 2005 peace deal ending more than two decades of north-south civil war, Sudan's former foes formed an uneasy coalition government but relations are tense over delays in the democratic transformation envisaged by the deal.

Talks to agree the border and other post-referendum arrangements are stalled, worrying many Sudanese as well as the international community who fear conflict could reignite if the frontier is not agreed before the 2011 vote.

"The (Misseriya) want to graze their cows and the locals are resisting. So it's a border conflict in short," William Keah, a local Unity state official said.

South Sudan recognizes the rights of the Misseriya to graze in the south but says they must leave their weapons behind, so they do not clash with southern tribes whom the government is trying to disarm.

20100206

BEIRUT (Reuters) - Search teams have identified the location of main segments of the Ethiopian Airlines plane that had crashed off the coast of Lebanon last month killing all 90 people on board, the Lebanese transport minister said on Saturday.

"We have pinpointed the location of the main parts of the plane at a depth of 45 metres (148 ft) under water. This is a very big progress," Ghazi Aridi told Reuters. When asked if that constituted the plane's fuselage, Aridi said it was still too early to determine that.

He said the "Ocean Alert" vessel was combing that part of the Mediterranean and taking pictures for search teams to have a better idea of the find.

The Boeing 737-800 plane was carrying mostly Lebanese and Ethiopian passengers and was headed to Addis Ababa on January 25. It crashed minutes after taking off from Beirut in stormy weather, plunging in a ball of fire in the sea.

Lebanese and international search teams have been scouring the Mediterranean along Beirut's coast to look for the bodies of victims and wreckage of the plane.

The U.S. navy vessel, USS Ramage, located the flight recorders some 1,300 metres underwater on January 27 but has yet to retrieve them.

The flight recorders should shed light on why the pilot did not respond to a request to change direction even though he acknowledged the control tower's commands.

The plane had apparently made a sharp turn before disappearing off the radar. Lebanese officials have said it was too early to draw any conclusion of pilot error.

At least 15 bodies and some body parts have been recovered.

The eight-year-old plane last underwent a maintenance check on December 25 and no technical problems were found.

20100206

NIAMEY (Reuters) - Japan and the Islamic Development Bank have pledged millions in dollars of aid for Niger, the first contributions after reports warned that more than half the country's population would face shortages this year.

Japan's contribution of 2.8 billion CFA francs on Friday follows a 3.5 billion CFA franc pledge earlier in the week by the Islamic bank to help the Sahelian nation that has a history of food crises but, in the past, has resisted outside help.

"Niger is a country which faces enormous difficulties in ensuring reliable and sustainable supply of food. That is why Japan will always stand by the Nigerien people in their efforts to improve living conditions," Okamura Yoshifumi, Japan's ambassador to Niger, said after confirming the donation.

Yoshifumi said that Japan's money would be used to buy rice for people in need.

The money from the IDB will be used to set up cereal banks, as well as rehabilitating rural roads and making farmland more productive.

Niger's farmers produced 26 percent less food during the 2009/10 harvest than they did last year.

A report in local media, which was confirmed by a government official, last month warned that 7.8 million of Niger's 15 million people will face food insecurity -- a term that covers stages from missing meals to malnutrition and famine.

Niger's government has said that it has enough food to cover everyone's needs but it would accept outside assistance, so long it was provided within a coordinated manner.

Food security is a politically sensitive subject in uranium-exporting Niger, which suffered severe shortages in 2005 affecting 4 million people.

The government resisted foreign help and denied there was a famine until media coverage attracted international attention.

Niger is currently at odds with donors, who have frozen much of their assistance for the vast, poor nation due to President Mamadou Tandja's successful 2009 campaign to change the constitution and extend his rule by three years.

20100206

DUBAI (Reuters) - Al Qaeda's north African wing has confirmed it has extended its deadline for the life of a French hostage and given Italy 25 days to meet its demands for an Italian captive, according to an Internet statement.

French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said in comments broadcast on Monday that Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) had extended the deadline for the French hostage.

AQIM said in a statement later posted on Islamist websites: "After the end of the first period given to France and Mali by the mujahideen regarding the French hostage, the mujahideen have decided ... to extend the deadline to February 20."

"France and Mali will be fully responsible for the life of the captive if demands are not met."

Frenchman Pierre Camatte was kidnapped in Mali in November, and AQIM has demanded the release of several prisoners held by Mali in return for his life.

The group has also claimed responsibility for the abduction of three Spaniards and an Italian couple.

"The mujahideen decided to demand the release of our prisoners whose names have been given to the Italian negotiator in return for the release of the Italian Sergio Cicala. We give the Italian government 25 days starting from the date of issue of this statement," the group said.

"We ask this government, involved in a war against Islam and Muslims, to be well aware that it has to be serious in dealing with our legitimate demands to protect the life of its citizen," said the statement, dated February 4.

The group made no reference to Cicala's wife, who was kidnapped with him in December in Mauritania.

20100206

TRIPOLI (Reuters) - A Libyan judge on Saturday fined one of two Swiss businessmen whose convictions for breaking immigration rules have already strained diplomatic links between Libya and Switzerland, their lawyer said.

The cases of Max Goeldi and Rachid Hamdani have also unsettled some of the foreign investors who flocked to Libya after the oil producer emerged from international isolation.

"The judge convicted Max Goeldi on the charges of violating business rules in Libya and fined him 1,000 dinars," defence lawyer Salah Zahaf added.

Both of them have already been convicted on separate charges of violating Libya's immigration rules and sentenced to 16 months in prison. Amnesty International said their convictions did not meet international standards for fair trial.

The judge in a Tripoli court is due to rule in the case of the second Swiss man Rachid Hamdani on the same charges of violating business rules, Zahaf said. "We are considering whether we would lodge an appeal against Goeldi's fine. We have yet to decide," he added.

The trials, on charges of violating business rules, have been deadlocked for weeks because the two men refused to attend. Both have been staying inside the Swiss embassy in Tripoli, where the Libyan authorities have no jurisdiction.

The trial of Goeldi, head of Libyan operations for Swiss-Swedish engineering firm ABB moved forward after he left the embassy to appear in court last week, lawyer Zahaf said.

Hamdani, who works for a construction company, is expected to hear his verdict on Sunday, according to the lawyer.

The two men were barred from leaving Libya in July 2008 after Swiss prosecutors briefly arrested Hannibal Gaddafi, a son of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, on charges of mistreating two domestic employees during a visit to Switzerland.

The charges were later dropped but Libya cut oil supplies to Switzerland and withdrew more than $5 billion in assets from Swiss banks. Libyan officials deny any connection between the arrest in Switzerland and the case of the two businessmen.

20100206

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South African President Jacob Zuma apologised on Saturday for fathering an illegitimate child, in the face of national outcry.

Critics say Zuma, a Zulu traditionalist who practises polygamy and currently has three wives and 20 children including the baby he fathered with another woman, has set a bad example in a country with one of the world's highest rates of HIV/AIDS.

"I have over the past week taken time to consider and reflect on the issues relating to a relationship I had outside of wedlock," Zuma said in a statement on Saturday, acknowledging it "has been a subject of much public discussion and debate".

"It has put a lot of pressure on my family and my organisation, the African National Congress. I deeply regret the pain that I have caused to my family, the ANC, the Alliance and South Africans in general," he said, reaffirming his commitment to "the importance of the family as an institution".

On Tuesday Zuma, who married for the fifth time last month, taking Tobeka Madiba as his third current wife, confirmed reports he had fathered a child with Sonono Khoza, daughter of Irvin Khoza who heads the local organising committee for the 2010 FIFA World Cup to be hosted by South Africa in June.

Khoza gave birth to a girl in October last year. The presidency has said previously that Zuma has 19 children. Zuma said on Tuesday he had formally acknowledged paternity and made a traditional payment of inhlawulo (damages) to Khoza's family.

On Saturday the Star Newspaper quoted unnamed senior party officials as saying Zuma had plunged his ANC party into crisis by breaking a pledge he made after being elected party leader in 2007 "not to embarrass the ANC with other sexual revelations".

Multiple marriages are allowed in South Africa and form part of Zulu culture, but have drawn criticism from HIV/AIDS activists. At least 5.7 million South Africans are infected and an estimated 1,000 people die from the disease each day.

Zuma, who has repeatedly defended polygamy, including at the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos last week, has said he will not deviate from the HIV/AIDS campaign.

20100206
presstv

Somali pirates have demanded $15 million, the largest amount of ransom so far, from UK ship Asian Glory reportedly carrying hundreds of modern cars and weapons.

The ship, headed to Saudi Arabia, was coming from Singapore when the Somali pirates hijacked it, a Press TV correspondent reported.

The UK ship was reportedly carrying expensive cars and modern weapons for Saudi Arabia to launch additional attacks on Yemen's Houthi fighters.

The largest amount of money given so far for the release of a ship in the Gulf of Aden was $7 million, which was given to a Greek tanker last week.

20100206
presstv

Hundreds of al-Shabab fighters have poured into the streets of Somalia's capital city, Mogadishu, while the government vows to seize three strategic towns from them.

Heavily armed young al-Shabab fighters who were coming from the town of Baidoa poured into the streets of Mogadishu Friday at midnight, a Press TV correspondent reported.

Somali Minister of Farms Mohamed Ibrahim Habsade vowed that the government is ready to capture key towns such as Baidoa, Kismayu and Merka from al-Shabab fighters.

Meanwhile, a large number of African Union troops approached Merka and Baraawe ports in order to aid the Somali government.

20100206
france24

French aid worker Laurent Maurice, who was kidnapped in Chad last year,has been released in good health after three months in captivity, a Red Cross official has confirmed.

AFP - A French aid worker kidnapped in November in Chad was released on Saturday, the International Committee of the Red Cross said in a statement.

Laurent Maurice "regained his freedom today... after 89 days in captivity, he is tired but appears to be in good health," the ICRC said, adding that fellow staff member Gauthier Lefevre, kidnapped in October in Darfur, was still held.

"The ICRC remains very concerned about Mr Lefevre and continues to press for his unconditional release," the ICRC said.

Lefevre, who also holds British nationality, was abducted on October 22 in the Sudanese region of Darfur, near the border with Chad.

The kidnappers demanded a million euros (1.5 million dollars) for his release.

Armed men seized Maurice, an agronomist who was in east Chad to assess recent harvests, in the village of Kawa, about 10 kilometres (six miles) from the border with Sudan.

The ICRC did not say under what circumstances 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," said Jordi Raich, the head of the ICRC's delegation in Sudan.

"We would like to express our profound gratitude to all those who helped us in one way or another during his captivity."

Daniel Duvillard, ICRC head of operations for East Africa, said in December that the agency was in "relatively frequent" contact with Lefevre and indirectly with Maurice through his kidnappers.

The abductions had led to the suspension of some aid work in remote rural areas of eastern Chad and west Sudan, he added.

A total of four French aid workers, including the two ICRC staff, have been abducted since October in a string of attacks in an area straddling eastern Chad, Sudan's war-torn Darfur and the Central African Republic.

The pattern of incidents, along with carjackings and other security problems blamed on a mix of banditry and political demands, has alarmed the international aid community in the region.