6 missing aid workers in South Sudan now safe, UN says

JOHANNESBURG – The United Nations humanitarian agency says six aid workers who went missing after clashes broke out in South Sudan days ago have returned safely.

The U.N. statement on Wednesday says the workers are with two international groups, HealthNet and Solidarity International, and one local aid group. They include Solidarity International’s country director, Mainul Islam Opu from Bangladesh, and five South Sudanese nationals.

The workers disappeared Sunday when fighting erupted near the northwestern town of Raga.

South Sudan’s government blamed the opposition for the abductions. The opposition said it rescued the aid workers from being used as “human shields” by the government.

A new opposition statement says the U.N. safely extracted the workers.

The fighting comes as peace talks on South Sudan’s civil war have started in neighbouring Ethiopia.