Ban commended “the efforts of UNAMID (the UN-African Union peacekeeping force), the government of Sudan and the government of Jordan in securing the release” of the two police unit officers.
He “calls on the government to fully investigate the incident and bring the perpetrators to justice as soon as possible,” following their belated release.
In the statement, the UN “reiterates that the primary responsibility for the safety and security of all peacekeeping personnel in UNAMID and the humanitarian community lies with the host government.”
The Jordanians went missing on August 20 in Kebkabiya town, about 140 kilometers (87 miles) west of El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur state where the UN has warned in recent months of rising insecurity.
UNAMID spokeswoman Aicha Elbasri told AFP that they had been held longer than anyone else in the five-year-old UNAMID mission, the world’s largest peacekeeping operation.