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| Africa Horn |
| Hijackers free all hostages on Sudanese plane |
| 2008-08-28 |
| The hijackers of a Sudanese plane that was forced to land in Libya released all the passengers on Wednesday, a Libyan aviation authority official said. "We can confirm that all the plane passengers have been freed by the hijackers," a top official from the authority told Reuters. Libya's state news agency confirmed that successful negotiations had led to the release of all passengers. The airliner was hijacked on Tuesday after leaving Sudan's war-battered Darfur region and was forced to land in the remote Sahara desert oasis of Kufrah. Libya's Civil Aviation Authority said 95 passengers were on the Boeing 737/200. The manager of the Sun Air airline which was flying the plane said earlier that agreement had been reached to free all the passengers. Mortada Hassan referred to only a single hijacker. He said the hijacker had demanded food and fuel to fly to France. Libya's state news agency Jana said the hijackers had demanded fuel to fly to Paris. The pilot told Libyan authorities the hijackers claimed to be members of a branch of the Sudanese Liberation Movement (SLM), a Darfur rebel group. "They said they belong to SLM's Abdel Wahed Nur who lives in Paris. They had coordinated with him to meet them in the French capital," Jana quoted the pilot as telling Libyan authorities. The SLM faction led by Abdel Wahed Mohammed al-Nur strongly denied the hijackers were members of the group. The Jana agency said Libya granted permission for the plane to land after the pilot told the authorities the plane was running out of fuel. Three senior members of a former Darfur rebel movement which has signed a peace accord with the government were among the passengers, a spokesman for their group said. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #1 "They said they belong to SLM's Abdel Wahed Nur who lives in Paris. They had coordinated with him to meet them in the French capital," Chez Jacques at 1950hrs and don't be late! |
| Posted by: Jack is Back! 2008-08-28 11:19 |