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Spain: Aid worker in Africa released by militants
By DANIEL WOOLLS (AP)
Mar 10, 2010 - 1:06:17 PM

MADRID - A Spanish aid worker kidnapped late last year in Mauritania by suspected Islamic militants was freed Wednesday, but two colleagues remained in captivity, the Spanish government said.

Alicia Gamez, 35, was on a plane to Barcelona after spending more than three months as a hostage, Deputy Prime Minister Maria Teresa Fernandez de la Vega told a hastily called news conference. She said she had spoken to the volunteer aid worker, whose full-time job is as a court clerk in Barcelona.

"Alicia is safe and sound," the deputy premier said. Asked if a ransom had been paid, she said "there was no payment."

Gamez and two male colleagues from an aid group called Barcelona Accion Solidaria were kidnapped by gunmen Nov. 29 while delivering relief material to poor villages. Al-Qaida's North African offshoot claimed responsibility, and Spain said it believed the claim was credible.

Fernandez de la Vega said the government is now concentrating on winning the release of the two remaining hostages, businessmen Roque Pascual and Albert Vilalta.

Asked why Gamez was released and the others were not, the deputy premier said, "That happens sometimes with this kind of kidnapping. There is no objective reason."

In the telephone call Gamez described the other hostages as being "healthy, nervous and eager to be released soon," Fernandez de la Vega.

The official praised the Spanish intelligence and diplomatic services and expressed gratitude for "the collaboration given by other countries," which she did not name. Gamez and the other two Spaniards were reportedly taken to Mali after the kidnapping, and its government is believed to have helped in negotiations with the captors.

An Italian couple also was kidnapped in Mauritania in December and the al-Qaida offshoot claimed responsibility. Spanish media said the wife in that pair, Philopene Kabore, was to have been released with Gamez on Wednesday. But Fernandez de la Vega said she could not speak for the Italian case.

Last month a Frenchman held captive in Mali for three months by Al-Qaida's North Africa offshoot was freed. That followed a contested court decision ordering a jail release for four suspected members of the militant group that abducted him.

In the Spanish case, news outlets have reported that the captors were demanding a ransom and the release of colleagues imprisoned in Mauritania.