French aid worker freed in Afghanistan

PARIS (AP) - A French aid worker kidnapped at gunpoint in the Afghan capital and later seen in an emotional hostage video was released by his captors Wednesday and is "doing well," President Nicolas Sarkozy announced.

Dany Egreteau, a 32-year-old worker for Solidarite Laique, or Secular Solidarity, was captured by gunmen in Kabul on Nov. 3 as he drove to work with another aid worker who managed to escape. An Afghan who tried to prevent the kidnapping was killed.

"I rejoice over his liberation, which happened several minutes ago," Sarkozy said in a surprise announcement while on a visit to Compiegne, north of Paris.

"He is doing well. His family is being notified," the president said, adding that medical exams were being conducted before he is returned to France on Thursday.

"We had been very concerned for him," Sarkozy added.

Egreteau has appeared in a video with a rifle pressed to each side of his head and chains around his legs. In the video, obtained by news agencies in Afghanistan on Nov. 26, Egreteau, streaked with dirt, pleaded for his release, barely seeming to open his eyes.

"I have been here for the last eight days, fully in the black," he said, his voice trembling at times.

He referred to a ransom demand, begging for someone to pay it.

Roland Biache, managing director of the Paris-based aid organization, said earlier that the kidnappers had made no immediate specific demands.

"It is very clear that our organization and Dany in particular were not the targets. It is safe to assume that it was the organization he was visiting that day that was being targeted," Biache said at a news conference last week. He did not say what group Egreteau had been visiting.

French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner expressed "joy" at Egreteau's release and stressed the need for humanitarian groups in Afghanistan.

"The work of humanitarian organizations, next to the Afghan people to help Afghanistan onto the path of peace and development is indispensable," Kouchner said in a statement. "To take these NGOs and their personnel as targets ... is unacceptable."

Security has deteriorated across Afghanistan over the last two years, with a recent spike in crimes against Westerners in the capital of Kabul.