Sudanese sailors return home after 3 years

Two Sudanese sailors who were captured by Somali pirates three years ago arrived back in Khartoum, on Monday. The sailors, who were captured on an Emirati ship, were freed with a number of other sailors of different nationalities. Sudan's ambassador to Kenya, Hassan Ali, confirmed that the embassy received both Abdel Moneim Abdel Hafiz and Ahmed Amin Ahmed after they were flown by plane from Puntland in Somalia to Nairobi. "The two are in good health," the ambassador said. The rescue of the multinational crew came after a two-week combat operation which involved heavy fighting with the pirates. A Sudanese newspaper quoted Sudan's ambassador to Somalia, Abdel Moneim Tayfur saying, "the liberation of the 24 multinational sailors was down to the appreciated effort of the government of Somali Puntland state." The newspaper reported that since the emergence of the phenomenon of piracy against ships, seven Sudanese sailors have been reported missing.