World Apr. 29, 2009 - 03:46AM JST ( 1 )

MOGADISHU —

Somali gunmen on Tuesday freed two European aid workers kidnapped nine days ago in the lawless country’s southern region, their organization and local officials said.

The doctors, a Dutch national and a Belgian employed by the French aid group Medecins sans Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders - MSF), were seized by the gunmen while on their way to Hodur, a town near the Ethiopian border.

Local elders and Islamist officials in the region had been in talks with the abductors to free them. The gunmen had demanded a ransom and threatened to kill the aid workers if an armed rescue was attempted.

“After days of tough talks, we finally succeeded in freeing the hostages and now they are in the hands of the elders,” said Hassan Mohamed, an elder involved in the negotiations.

“They have been officially transferred from the hands of the kidnappers,” he added, but did not give details of the talks.

MSF’s head of mission for Somalia Dag Horntvedt said: “Our organization is extremely relieved to know that our colleagues are free and in good health.”

Horntvedt also condemned the abduction.

“In a country like Somalia, where so many people rely on international humanitarian assistance, such acts effectively put in danger much of the health care that the population has access to,” he said in a statement.

The two aid workers later left Hodur in a small plane for the Kenyan capital Nairobi, local officials there said.

Other elders said the kidnappers had been paid an undisclosed amount of money to cover their “expenses” which included phone and fuel bills and cash spent on meals.

The hostages had been moved to several locations in villages in the region as talks to free them were underway.

Their kidnappers were from the same group that abducted four aid workers employed by the United Nations on March 16 in Wajid, a major U.N. aid hub located only 90 kilometers from Hodur.

Those aid workers were released hours after being snatched, following efforts by local elders and Shebab officials.

Officials had said that the latest kidnapping was likely motivated by resentment among some clans over a perceived imbalance in UN recruitment for local jobs.

According to sources in Hodur, the group had been promised jobs and money to release the four but were dissatisfied with the deal and kidnapped the two MSF doctors in reprisal.

Kidnappings of foreign aid workers and journalists by ransom-seeking armed groups happen frequently in conflict-wracked Somalia.

UN agencies attempting to deliver food aid to 3.25 million Somalis—nearly half the population—have been repeatedly targeted.

Four European aid workers employed by the French charity Action Against Hunger and their two Kenyan pilots have been held hostage since November.

The Horn of Africa country has been without a central authority since the overthrow of president Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991.

Wire reports