On December 26, gunmen abducted Mercedes Garcia and Pilar Bauza, a Spanish doctor and an Argentinian nurse, in Bosasso, the main port in the breakaway state of Puntland that abuts the Gulf of Aden.
"They have been released," Bile Mohamud Qabowsade, an official from the Puntland information ministry, told AFP.
"They are morally and physically well. Their health is very good," the official said, adding that the two women, employed by Medecins Sans Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders) were transferred to a Bosasso hotel.
"They are free now... and they are in a hotel in Bosasso in the presence of the president of Puntland and other top local officials," Qabowsade added.
After the initial capture, Puntland police hunted down the kidnappers, sparking an exchange of fire which resulted in the arrest of two suspects but also sparked concern over the two hostages' health.
Local media reported that the captors were demanding 250,000 euros (365,000 US dollars) to release the two but Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos told a news conference in Madrid that no ransom was paid.
"What this group of people was seeking was social and political limelight," he said, adding both women were in good health and would arrive in Spain late on Thursday.
"They want to forget this very difficult week, but they wish to return," he said.
"We want to express our disdain for the kidnapping which also means the kidnapping of independent humanitarian action," said MSF-Spain president Paula Farias in the statement.
"Such actions are unacceptable and jeopardise humanitarian assistance to the most vulnerable populations, which is the reason why our two colleagues were working in Somalia," she added.
The statement explained that the two abducted women were snatched on their way to a feeding centre where MSF is assisting 7,000 children under the age of five suffering from malnutrition.
"The civilian population pays the price of the ongoing conflict in Somalia, and the survival of the majority of the Somali people depends on external assistance given by a few humanitarian organisations and international agencies," stated Farias.
"Somalia has been a forgotten crisis and such incidents only increase the suffering of the Somalis," she added.
In recent weeks, foreign media and aid organisations have increasingly been exposing the trade of smugglers taking refugees across the Gulf of Aden to the Arabian peninsula.
Hundreds of migrants die each year while attempting the crossing, either because their rickety boats capsize or as a result of exhaustion, disease or mistreatment by the smugglers.
Puntland authorities have encouraged foreigners to coordinate any movement to the region with the local authorities.
Somalia has been plagued by civil conflict since the 1991 ouster of former dictator Mohamed Siad Barre.
Hundreds of civilians have died this year, mainly in Mogadishu, in violence pitting Ethiopian-backed Somali government troops against Islamist insurgents. The fighting has forced hundreds of thousands to flee the capital.
A proportion of the displaced have sought refuge in
Bosasso, seeking shelter with relatives, in camps or on their way to
attempting the illegal boat crossing out of the restive country.
SOURCE: AFP, Wednesday, January 02, 2008