Four Chinese workers, who were abducted on January 12 in Sudan's Darfur region, have been released, a local official in the state of North Darfur announced and Chinese embassy confirmed on Wednesday.

"The four Chinese workers were released today and have been handed to the United Nations-African Union Mission in Darfur (UNAMID)," Mohamed Suleiman Rabih, the commissioner of Kuma in North Darfur, told the Xinhua News Agency.

 

Rabih reiterated that the freed Chinese workers "are in good health" and further said that North Darfur authorities earlier arrested some people belonging to the rebel faction responsible for kidnapping the Chinese workers.

"We have managed to communicate with the leaders of the kidnappers," he was quoted as saying. "Our efforts resulted in the release of the Chinese workers," he added.

The commissioner said efforts were continuing to ensure the release of five Sudanese who worked for the Chinese company entrusted with building the El Fasher-Kuma sector of a highway to the west. 

The workers were kidnapped on Saturday along with their just released four Chinese counterparts by a rebel group belonging to a Darfur armed movement.

Early last year, rebels of the Sudan People's Liberation Movement-North abducted a group of 29 Chinese workers in southern Sudan. They were released unharmed after 11 days.

Darfur suffers religious and ethnic tensions. China is Sudan's major trading partner, and the largest buyer of Sudanese oil.