Norwegian tells about his captivity in Sudan - Sacramento Bee

OSLO, Norway -- Four foreigners who were arrested by Sudanese authorities and held for three weeks were on a U.N. mine clearing mission along the disputed border with South Sudan, a relief agency said Friday.

The Norwegian, Briton, South African and South Sudanese soldier were all freed in Sudan on Sunday. John Soerboe, a 50-year-old relief worker for Norwegian People's Aid, returned home Friday.

African Union mediator Thabo Mbeki facilitated their release, said the Norwegian People's Aid and Britain's Foreign Office.

Soerboe said in Oslo that the four had identified themselves as U.N. workers when they were arrested on April 29 in the Heglig border region by Sudanese soldiers firing weapons nto the air. Violence between Sudanese and South Sudanese forces had spiked in that area.

"We introduced ourselves and told them we are on a mission for the United Nations. They asked us if we cleared the mines they had put out, and we acknowledged," Soerboe said in a statement released by his agency. "So we were blindfolded and we got hit in the head."

Soerboe said he was working with Briton Chris Fielding from the United Nations, Peter Monyluak of the South Sudan Mine Action Authority, and Thabo Siave of the South African demining organization Mechem.

Britain's Foreign Office has confirmed that Fielding was freed on Monday, and Foreign Office Minister David Lidington said the Briton was "healthy and was well treated by the Sudanese while he was in detention."

On Twitter, Norwegian Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere said Friday that he has met with Soerboe who is "in a good shape, high spirits. He's a good man."

Soerboe said the Sudanese authorities thought they were spies or mercenaries who had entered Sudan illegally.

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OSLO, Norway -- Four foreigners who were arrested by Sudanese authorities and held for three weeks were on a U.N. mine clearing mission along the disputed border with South Sudan, a relief agency said Friday.

The Norwegian, Briton, South African and South Sudanese soldier were all freed in Sudan on Sunday. John Soerboe, a 50-year-old relief worker for Norwegian People's Aid, returned home Friday.

African Union mediator Thabo Mbeki facilitated their release, said the Norwegian People's Aid and Britain's Foreign Office.

Soerboe said in Oslo that the four had identified themselves as U.N. workers when they were arrested on April 29 in the Heglig border region by Sudanese soldiers firing weapons nto the air. Violence between Sudanese and South Sudanese forces had spiked in that area.

"We introduced ourselves and told them we are on a mission for the United Nations. They asked us if we cleared the mines they had put out, and we acknowledged," Soerboe said in a statement released by his agency. "So we were blindfolded and we got hit in the head."

Soerboe said he was working with Briton Chris Fielding from the United Nations, Peter Monyluak of the South Sudan Mine Action Authority, and Thabo Siave of the South African demining organization Mechem.

Britain's Foreign Office has confirmed that Fielding was freed on Monday, and Foreign Office Minister David Lidington said the Briton was "healthy and was well treated by the Sudanese while he was in detention."

On Twitter, Norwegian Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere said Friday that he has met with Soerboe who is "in a good shape, high spirits. He's a good man."

Soerboe said the Sudanese authorities thought they were spies or mercenaries who had entered Sudan illegally.

What You Should Know About Comments on Sacbee.com

Sacbee.com is happy to provide a forum for reader interaction, discussion, feedback and reaction to our stories. However, we reserve the right to delete inappropriate comments or ban users who can't play nice. (See our full terms of service here.)

Here are some rules of the road:

• Keep your comments civil. Don't insult one another or the subjects of our articles. If you think a comment violates our guidelines click the "Report Abuse" link to notify the moderators. Responding to the comment will only encourage bad behavior.

• Don't use profanities, vulgarities or hate speech. This is a general interest news site. Sometimes, there are children present. Don't say anything in a way you wouldn't want your own child to hear.

• Do not attack other users; focus your comments on issues, not individuals.

• Stay on topic. Only post comments relevant to the article at hand.

• Do not copy and paste outside material into the comment box.

• Don't repeat the same comment over and over. We heard you the first time.

• Do not use the commenting system for advertising. That's spam and it isn't allowed.

• Don't use all capital letters. That's akin to yelling and not appreciated by the audience.

• Don't flag other users' comments just because you don't agree with their point of view. Please only flag comments that violate these guidelines.

You should also know that The Sacramento Bee does not screen comments before they are posted. You are more likely to see inappropriate comments before our staff does, so we ask that you click the "Report Abuse" link to submit those comments for moderator review. You also may notify us via email at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Note the headline on which the comment is made and tell us the profile name of the user who made the comment. Remember, comment moderation is subjective. You may find some material objectionable that we won't and vice versa.

If you submit a comment, the user name of your account will appear along with it. Users cannot remove their own comments once they have submitted them.