Kidnapped aid workers freed, safe: Sudan

A Sudanese government official has confirmed that a Canadian nurse and three other aid workers who had been kidnapped in the Darfur region have been released."It is confirmed," Ali Youssef Ahmed, head of protocol at the foreign ministry, told Reuters. "They have been released. They are safe. They are all right. They are still in Darfur but will be transferred to Khartoum."The four - Canadian nurse Laura Archer, an Italian doctor, a French field worker and the Sudanese guard - work for the international aid organization Doctors Without Borders. They were taken hostage Wednesday by "bandits," according to Sudanese authorities.Ahmed said the three foreign workers were freed around noon, and the Sudanese national had been released earlier.Avril Benoit, spokeswoman for Doctors Without Borders, said Saturday that despite media reports, "we are not confirming.""We still have not got any confirmation that our people are free. We're still waiting for confirmation that we have actually seen them."The organization had earlier been grappling with conflicting reports earlier Saturday about the status of the workers.Armed men seized the staff from their base in north Darfur on Wednesday, sending shock waves through the region's humanitarian community.The kidnapping came a week after Sudan expelled 13 foreign aid agencies after the International Criminal Court ordered President Omar al-Bashir's arrest for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in Darfur.