You have the right to remain silent...
by the Sudanese army along the country's tense southern border were released Sunday and turned over to chief African Union
...a union consisting of 53 African states, most run by dictators of one flavor or another. The only all-African state not in the AU is Morocco. Established in 2002, the AU is the successor to the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), which was even less successful...
mediator Thabo Mbeki
...former president of South Africa, succeeding Nelson Mandela. He now pops up periodically as a mediator when something catches fire in Africa...
, the defence minister said.
"We release them to president Mbeki," Abdelrahim Mohammed Hussein said in a ceremony at Sudan's military headquarters in Khartoum, more than three weeks after the men were nabbed
Youse'll never take me alive coppers!... [BANG!]... Ow!... I quit!
The former South African president has been in the Sudanese capital since Thursday meeting officials, including President Omar al-Bashir
Head of the National Congress Party. He came to power in 1989 when he, as a brigadier in the Sudanese army, led a group of officers in a bloodless military coup that ousted the government of Prime Minister Sadiq al-Mahdi and eventually appointed himself president-for-life. He has fallen out with his Islamic mentor, Hasan al-Turabi, tried to impose shariah on the Christian and animist south, resulting in its secessesion, and attempted to
ArabizeDarfur by unleashing the barbaric Janjaweed on it. Sudan's potential prosperity has been pissed away in warfare that has left as many as 400,000 people dead and 2.5 million displaced. Omar has been indicted for genocide by the International Criminal Court but nothing is expected to come of it.
, in an effort to push Sudan and South Sudan back to negotiations which were suspended after border fighting last month.
"I raised your issue with President Bashir and the government explained to us the circumstances of your arrest, and then we asked President Bashir to release you," Mbeki said addressing the four men: a Briton, a Norwegian, a South African and a South Sudanese.
"All of us will go together," he said before the freed men got into a minibus to leave as part of Mbeki's motorcade.
"We thank the government of Sudan and we appreciate the effort of president Mbeki. We are so happy now that we are going," the Norwegian, John Sorbo, said on behalf of his three colleagues.
The captives appeared to be in good condition but their shoes were dirty.
They smiled and shook hands with the defence minister and Sudanese military officers.