Kidnappers have freed five members of the Commission for Justice and Peace (CIJP) kidnapped on 31 March in the Choco region by an armed group thought to be part of the FARC, official sources have confirmed.

The five Human Rights Observers were released near where they had been kidnapped.

The Commission for Justice and Peace has indicated in a statement that this release is "good news for our Commission, for the Human Rights Community and for the people living in the Humanitarian Zones of Jiguamiandó as well as for the families of Curvaradó " where those who were freed had been working.

Enrique Chimonja, Johana López, Edwin Mosquera, Mónica Suarez and Fabio Ariza are in good health and have been accompanied in this region of the Amazon forest by representatives of the UNHCR and the dioceses of Quibdó, the capital of Choco.

It is widely known that both FARC and the paramilitaries AUC have tried to gain control of this area.

Such clashes in the areas close to Bojayá, near Bellavista have led to the forced displacement of some two thousand people in recent weeks, a situation that has been condemned by different UN agencies in Colombia.

In May 2002 the worst civilian massacre in Colombia occurred in Bojayá during an armed battle when 119 villagers who had taken refuge in a little church to escape the battle between the FARC and AUC, had been massacred.

The Commission for Justice and Peace thanked all those who had given "moral or spiritual support or sent expressions of hope during an anxious time that has ended " with the release of its members.

Last Tuesday (5 March) the Assistant Secretary General for UN Humanitarian Affairs, Jan Egeland had asked for the "immediate release" of the five members of this NGO. Both in Colombia and in dozens of countries, organisations and governments had also demanded the release of these Human Rights workers.