Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos on Wednesday expressed his thanks to Somalian officials for their effort for the release of two aid workers held hostage in the country.
Spanish physician Mercedes Garcia and Argentine nurse Pilar Bauza, working for the international medical charity organization Doctors Without Borders (DWB), were kidnapped by gunmen on Dec. 26,2007, in Bosasso port, northeastern Somalia.
They were freed on Wednesday in the country's semi-autonomous region of Puntland after a week in captivity.
Moratinos said the release came after "intense negotiations" with the kidnappers. Somalian officials were also involved in the negotiations.
The two workers are in Bossasso and everything is ready for their return to Spain on Thursday, he added. No ransom was paid.
The Spanish Foreign Minister said the two nurses "are in a very good state of health, protected by local officials, and willing to return to continue their work".
The DWB has worked continuously in Somalia for more than 16 years and is currently providing medical care in 11 regions in the country.
There are some 60 international DWB staff and more than 800 national staff now working in Somalia, performing more than 300,000 outpatient consultations and treating an estimated 10,000 patients every year.
Source:Xinhua
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