Freed

The Irish Government has despatched the government jet to bring Sharon Commins home from the Sudan after she was released Saturday.

Commins - who worked for the Irish aid agency GOAL - was kidnapped along with a colleague Hilda Kawuki 100 days ago.

They were abducted by an armed gang in the Darfur region on July 3.

Both Commins and Kawuki released a statement saying that they could not wait to gtet home and spend time with their loved ones.

'We are naturally thrilled to be released after such a long period in captivity. We know it must have been a traumatic period for our families especially and for our friends.

'We want to express our heartfelt thanks to the Irish Government, the Sudanese authorities and our colleagues in GOAL, who all worked tirelessly to secure our release. We'd also like to thank everyone in Ireland and in Uganda who offered so much support to our families - we know our families appreciated that very much.

'It was of course, a difficult time - but we found strength in each other and in our friendship.

'We now can hardly wait to get home and spend time with our loved ones'.