Algeria released over 200 Sudanese miners

January 11, 2016(Khartoum)-The Sudanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs Monday announced the end of the ordeal of 289 Sudanese traditional miners who were detained in Algeria for several months .

Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir had raised the issue of the detention of the Sudanese miners with his Algerian counterpart during their summit meeting in October.

President Boutafliqa had promised to free the miners who illegally entered his country in search of gold.

The Foreign Ministry’s official spokesman Ali al-Sadiq told reporters his ministry had exerted tremendous effort to free and transport the miners to Sudan.

He said the Sudanese diplomatic mission in Algiers had received a list of the detainees from the Algerian Foreign Ministry , dispatched some of its staff to listen to the detainees in jail in order to verify that they were Sudanese.

He said his ministry has coordinated with its Algerian counterpart to assemble the detainees in one place in a bid to bring them back to Sudan.

He extolled the response of the Algerian President to President Bashir’s request to free the miners.
ST