Three UN staffers abducted in Sudan released

Three United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) staff members including two Nepalis who were abducted on November 27 from El Geneina, Sudan, have been safely released.

UN refugee agency staffers Sarun Pradhan and Ramesh Karki from Nepal and Musa Omer Musa Mohamed from Sudan were abducted by a group of armed men from Sudan's strife-torn Darfur region, reports the Kathmandu Post.

Briefing a press meet at Palais des Nations in Geneva on Tuesday, UNHCR spokesperson Adrian Edwards, attributed the safe release of the hostages to Sudanese Government and UN's hostage management team and other stakeholders involved towards the end.

Edward quoted UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Filippo Grandi, saying that he was very pleased by the safe release of UN staffers.

Edward further said that the UN's immediate focus is on the health and well-being of the released staffers and that they were doing 'everything possible to ensure they are being well taken care of'.

Darfur has been engulfed in a deadly conflict since 2003 when ethnic minority groups took up arms against President Omar al-Bashir's Arab-dominated government, which launched a brutal counter-insurgency. At least 300,000 people have been killed and 2.5 million displaced in Darfur since then, the UN says.