Wednesday, May 16, 2007
The two men -- a Briton and a Kenyan -- have been handed over to local elders after negotiations and were in good health, the source said. They work for CARE International and were abducted on Wednesday.
CARE's regional spokeswoman Beatrice Spadacini could not confirm the pair were free, but said there had been a "positive development".
"We cannot make a full statement until we know they are back with their colleagues," she said.
The leader of the kidnappers said earlier on Tuesday the relief workers were being held until "minor" political problems were resolved with the Puntland authorities.
The man, who identified himself only as Mohamed, told Reuters by satellite telephone from an undisclosed location the aid workers would be held "until those grievances are fully addressed".
He gave no other details, but local residents said a minister from the kidnappers' clan was recently fired from the Puntland administration under unclear circumstances.
There have also been suggestions the aid workers were seized for use as a bargaining chip in a dispute between fishermen and the local authorities over impounded fishing vessels.
On Sunday, the captors had threatened to kill the two men if the Puntland authorities tried to rescue them.
Puntland runs itself independently of the rest of Somalia and has been more peaceful than most areas in recent years.
But the whole country, which has been deprived of effective central rule for 16 years, is dangerous for aid workers.
On Tuesday, gunmen attacked a U.N. World Health Organization office in the capital Mogadishu, wounding a guard just two days after U.N. aid chief John Holmes cut short a visit to the city after bombs planted by insurgents killed three people.
Source: Reuters, May 16, 2007