Red Cross staffer freed after five months

Lefevre, 35, was travelling in convoy of two vehicles clearly marked with the ICRC logo when he was seized by gunmen.

KHARTOUM, March 18, 2010 (AFP) - An employee of the International Committee of the Red Cross who was kidnapped in Darfur in October was freed on Thursday, the last captive aid worker in the war-torn Sudanese region to be released.

"I am extremely relieved to be freed. I want to thank everyone involved; I know many people worked for my release," Gauthier Lefevre said after arriving at Khartoum airport.

"It's a very intense day, a little difficult to manage, but I am very happy," added the emotional Lefevre, who was welcomed by a dozen colleagues.

Lefevre, 35, holds joint British-French citizenship. He was travelling in convoy of two vehicles clearly marked with the ICRC logo when he was seized by gunmen near the Chadian border on October 22.

His abductors demanded a ransom but never made any political demands.

"The ICRC did not pay a ransom; it's not our policy," said the organisation's Sudan spokesman, Saleh Dabbakeh.

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

They came after the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for Sudanese President Omar al-Beshir for alleged crimes against humanity and war crimes in Darfur.

"We are relieved and happy that Gauthier will soon be able to be back with his family and friends who have been going through a painful nightmare for nearly five months and are very eager to have him back," ICRC delegation chief Jordi Raich said in a statement.

In Paris, French President Nicolas Sarkozy said he "shares the joy of (Lefevre's) family and thanks the Sudanese authorities for their particularly precious help in handling this crisis," a statement said.

Sudanese and other foreign colleagues who were travelling with Lefevre at the time of his abduction were not seized, prompting suggestions that he was targeted because of his French nationality.

Six French aid workers have been abducted over the past year in the border area between the Central African Republic, Chad and Sudan.

Two French aid workers abducted in the CAR and held for four months were freed in Darfur on Sunday.

Olivier Denis and Olivier Frappe were working for a French charity, Triangle Generation Humanitaire, when they were kidnapped in November 2009 and brought over the border into Sudan.

Denis spoke of how the pair had feared for their lives at the start of their ordeal.

"There were (threats) then the tone calmed down," he told journalists after his release. "Sometimes they (kidnappers) started again when they got impatient."

A shadowy 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, freed in April.

Maurice was released last month after 89 days in captivity.

Paris has difficult relations with the Khartoum government as it has taken in a top Darfur rebel leader -- Abdel Wahid Nur, who heads the hardline faction of the Sudan Liberation Movement.

It also has personnel across the border in former French colonies Chad and the CAR as part of a UN peacekeeping force.

Darfur has been stricken by a war that broke out in 2003 between ethnic minority rebels and Arab militia backed by the Sudanese government. Armed groups have splintered into two dozen factions, some engaging in banditry with no clear political aims.

The abductions of their staff have forced humanitarian agencies to change the way they operate in Darfur by limiting the movement of expatriate aid in the vast region's remote areas.

However, one NGO official said Lefevre's release did not necessarily mean a return to business as usual.

"We will have to see how long this lasts ... before returning to a normal operational mode," he said on condition of anonymity.

Since 2003, the conflict has claimed about 300,000 lives and displaced 2.7 million people, according to UN figures. Khartoum puts the death toll at 10,000.

On February 23, Khartoum and the Justice and Equality Movement rebel group signed a framework agreement for Darfur peace, and the smaller Liberation and Justice Movement signed a similar deal on Thursday.

But other important rebel factions have refused to join negotiations.