The parents of a Canadian nurse kidnapped in Sudan's volatile Darfur region earlier this week say they are ecstatic that their daughter has been set free.
Laura Archer, who was working with M锟絛ecins Sans Fronti锟絩es (MSF), was kidnapped along with two other foreign aid workers and a Sudanese guard on Wednesday.
The group was released by their captors on Saturday, ending a three day ordeal.
"We're very proud of Laura and if anyone could have handled this situation, she's the one," said parents Ted and Barbara Archer in a statement released by MSF on Saturday.
"We want to thank all of our family, our friends and our community for their support through this nightmare."
Christopher Stokes, general director of the Belgian section of MSF, confirmed Archer's release Saturday.
"We are incredibly relieved that our colleagues are safe and in good health," he said in a press release.
"Their families have been informed and are overjoyed. Our thoughts are with each of our colleagues and their families as they look forward to being reunited. We are delighted this incident is resolved."
Archer is originally from P.E.I. but now resides in Montreal. The other two foreign aid workers have been identified as Mauro D'Ascanio, an Italian doctor, and Raphael Meunier, a French field co-ordinator.
The aid workers were abducted in Serif Umra, a rural area in Northern Darfur, on Wednesday night. Sudanese watchman Sharif Mohamadin was also taken with the group, and released on Saturday.
Archer, who had a degree in nursing from the University of Prince Edward Island, wrote an article for her alumni magazine in 2007 that described her decision to do charity work abroad.
She said that while working in San Francisco, she decided to travel the world. Archer sold all of her belongings and journeyed across Asia and the Middle East for 18 months. In 2004, she was in India, using her nursing skills to look after survivors of the Boxing Day Tsunami.
"Through this experience, the difference between being a tourist and a humanitarian became apparent to me -- and I knew which I wanted to be," Archer wrote.
"Working with Medecins Sans Frontieres has proven to be the most difficult and rewarding experience of my life."
MSF has pulled all of its international staff members from its projects in Darfur in the wake of the abductions. The organization has also pulled all Sudanese staff from these projects who are not local to the area where the kidnappings occurred.
The kidnappings came only a week after the Khartoum-based Sudanese government expelled 13 aid groups, including MSF, working in Darfur.
Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir was indicted by the International Criminal Court on war crimes charges and crimes against humanity in Darfur, the day before the Sudanese government expelled the international aid groups.
With files from The Associated Press
