Appeal by Carter Prompts Release of 3 Americans, Briton, Sudan Rebels Say

NAIROBI, Kenya —  Three Americans and a Briton held captive for seven weeks were freed Tuesday by Sudanese rebels who said they were honoring a personal appeal by former President Jimmy Carter.

They were flown to Nairobi on Tuesday evening after they were freed near the Kenya-Sudan border earlier in the day.

“We are doing fine,” Steve Anderson, 31, said after he and fellow Americans Katherine Taylor, 32, and Mark Nikkel, 37, of Reedley, Calif., arrived here with Heather Sinclair, 29, of Belfast, Northern Ireland.

A spokesman for the rebel group that took the hostages, the Sudanese People’s Liberation Army, said in a clandestine radio broadcast that it released the hostages after “receiving a personal appeal from former U.S. President Jimmy Carter.” Carter was vacationing Tuesday and could not be reached for comment.

In Washington, State Department spokeswoman Phyllis Oakley said, “We are delighted that the four are safe. . . . Their unconditional release was the culmination of a broad effort and we appreciate the assistance of all involved in their release.”

The four were kidnaped July 7 in Mondrei, a city in southern Sudan. Anderson, Taylor and Sinclair were working for the Nairobi-based Assn. of Christian Resource Organizations Serving Sudan. Anderson, Taylor and Nikkel were teaching at a school in Mondrei and Sinclair was working as a nurse.