Darfur rebels have released 36 African Union (AU) hostages but are still holding two more in the western Sudanese region, an AU spokesman said today.
The AU had blamed a breakaway faction of the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) for the kidnappings. The faction denied the accusations.
JEM Vice-President Bahar Idriss Abudarda said a JEM force had liberated the hostages and the kidnappers had fled into Chad. Mr Abudarda is in the Nigerian capital, taking part in peace talks on the Darfur conflict.
The AU said the faction first kidnapped a multinational AU ceasefire monitoring team yesterday and then took the rescue team in the Chadian-Sudanese border town of Tine.
An AU spokesman said the military head of the AU mission had witnessed the release of 36 of the hostages.
"Thirty-six were released, two are missing and still with this armed group - the AU team leader and the translator," the spokesman said.
AU officials said the monitoring team included a US observer, a JEM representative and other AU forces. The US embassy in Khartoum on Monday confirmed the release of a US hostage but declined further details.
The rebel faction, which split from JEM's leadership earlier this year, was demanding a seat at peace talks in the Nigerian capital Abuja, AU sources said.