Vatican City, September 27, 2007--Three ACT-Caritas staff are now free after being detained by an armed group and released into police custody. The three staff members were held for close to 30 hours and work for ACT-Caritas through ACT member, Norwegian Church Aid (NCA).

Immediately following the incident, all non-life saving ACT-Caritas operations in and around Zalingei were suspended and non-essential staff were sent home.

John Distefano, director of the ACT-Caritas Darfur Emergency Response, said, "We express our thanks to all who helped in the process of their release. A team is also currently investigating the matter."

The three staff left the police station yesterday and will be taken to Nyala. They will go through a standard debriefing interview, medical assessment and will be reunited with their families.

"We have strict security protocols in place to safeguard our staff and ensure that we don't inadvertently put those we assist at risk, but security is very fluid in this area," added Mr. Distefano.

Over the past two months insecurity had already reduced the ability of the ACT-Caritas operation to provide humanitarian assistance in and around Zalingei.

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported in August that insecurity is negatively affecting the quantity and quality of aid to hundreds of thousands of people in

Further details on the incident and future operations in Zalingei will be released in the near future.

Please contact Patrick Nicholson on 0039 06 69879725 or 0039 3343590700 or nicholson@caritas.va