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KIDNAPPERS in the northern Somali region of Puntland have freed two female aid workers from the Spanish branch of Medecins Sans Frontieres.Spanish doctor Mercedes Garcia and Argentine nurse Pilar Bauza – who were abducted last Wednesday near Bosasso – are now in a hotel in the port town, the Somali trade minister said.
Puntland has generally been more stable than the south since Somalia's last effective government fell in 1991. It was unclear if any ransom had been paid to secure the hostages' release.
The trade minister, Abdisamad Yusuf Abwan, merely confirmed that the two women had been released – news welcomed by Spain, according to the Spanish ambassador to Kenya, Nicolas Martin Cinto.
Medecins Sans Frontieres evacuated its foreign staff from southern and central Somalia on Tuesday, saying it could not keep them there while two colleagues were in captivity.
SOURCE: The Scotsmen, Wednesday, January 02, 2008