UN confirms release of kidnapped workers

Three kidnapped UN workers were healthy and in good spirits following their release this morning, the United Nations said on Tuesday. Kidnapped off the streets of the Afghan capital, Kabul, on 28 October, the three had been working on Afghanistan's first ever presidential elections. "They look good and they seem to be in good spirits," Manoel de Almieda e Silva, a spokesman for the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), told IRIN. "But, of course, we cannot forget that they are coming from very tough conditions over more than three weeks," he said. Afghan officials said the hostages were released during a rescue operation and that the government managed to release them without making any deals with the kidnappers. One kidnapper was killed and four others wounded, officials said. Annetta Flanigan from Northern Ireland, Kosovan Shqipe Habibi and Filipino diplomat Angelito Nayan were abducted at gunpoint when a group of armed men in camouflage stopped their vehicle, pulling them out and driving them away at high speed. According to UNAMA, the three were released on Tuesday morning and taken by UN staff to a military base where they were identified and examined by medical staff. "It was the result of a joint effort by Afghan authorities and our international friends. The hostages were freed without any deals with kidnappers," Ali Ahmad Jalali, Afghanistan's interior minister, told IRIN following the release of the UN workers. Jaish-e-Muslimeen or the Army of Muslims, a splinter faction of Afghanistan's hard-line former Taleban rulers, had produced a video of the hostages and demanded the release of 26 prisoners in return for their lives. Jalali said some local commanders and other people had been identified and arrested who had helped Jaish-e-Muslimeen with the kidnapping. "This was against the culture and hospitality of the Afghan people," Jalali said. "This was an isolated and unfortunate incident that we hope will not discourage the resolve of the international community in continuing their work to assist the Afghan people." Meanwhile, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan voiced his "delight" at the release of the election workers abducted, pledging the world body’s commitment to help promote peace, reconstruction and democracy in the war-torn country. "He is profoundly relieved that their ordeal and the anxiety of their families and friends are now ended," his spokesman said in a statement issued in Sharm-el-Sheikh, Egypt, where the Secretary-General is attending an international conference on Iraq. In addition to speaking to the released staff members, Annan also phoned Afghan President Hamid Karzai to thank him for his government's role in securing the release of the three, voiced gratitude to the people of Afghanistan for their outpouring of sympathy and support, and praised the “courage, dedication and solidarity” of the UN family in a call to his Special Representative for Afghanistan, Jean Arnault. "The Afghan people have high expectations and hopes with regard to the role of the United Nations," the statement concluded. "The United Nations system will continue to work to strengthen the security of its staff in order to enable it to fulfil the organisation’s mandate to further peace, reconstruction and democracy in Afghanistan."