Kidnapped Spanish aid workers freed after nine months

Two Spanish nationals kidnapped nearly nine months ago by an al Qaeda-linked group stepped out of a helicopter to freedom in Burkina Faso’s capital yesterday.

Aid workers Roque Pascual and Albert Vilalta, who were kidnapped in Mauritania in November last year, were greeted by diplomats on landing.

They walked out of the aircraft wearing polo shirts and khaki trousers. One of them – believed to be Mr Vilalta who is known to have suffered bullet wounds to his leg during the kidnapping – was holding a cane.

“It’s a great day,” one of the freed men said to reporters.

They were handed a telephone and reporters could hear them saying “muchos gracias”, or “many thanks”. Reporters were told that they were talking to the Spanish Prime Minister. The two will now take a flight back to Spain.

The aid workers were kidnapped when their convoy of 4x4s was attacked in Mauritania on November 29 while they were delivering supplies to poor villagers.

They were taken to northern Mali, a remote desert area which has become one of the operating bases for al Qaida of the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) and were among the longest-held hostages in the Sahara.

“This has been 268 days of suffering for them and their families,” Spanish Prime Minister José Luis Rodriguez Zapatero told reporters in Madrid. The release happened just days after a Malian who was sentenced in Mauritania for the kidnapping was extradited back to his home country. AQIM had demanded his return as a condition for the release of the two aid workers. The two boarded a helicopter at an undisclosed location in Mali earlier today and were then taken to Ouagadougou, the capital of neighbouring Burkina Faso.