Colombian leftist guerrillas have freed the last two of three German men whose kidnappings in July strained fragile peace talks and prompted threats from European donors to suspend aid to the war-torn nation.
Mr Ulrich Kuenzel and Mr Reiner Bruchmann, 55, were handed over by FARC rebels to a humanitarian delegation of Red Cross workers and a German Embassy official.
Another man kidnapped with them last July, Mr Thomas Kuenzel, escaped from his captors in a rural district of Cauca Province on September 22nd amid the confusion caused by a military offensive.
The 17,000-member FARC said it wanted to investigate whether the men's work for a German government aid agency was a cover for the US-backed Plan Colombia anti-cocaine offensive, which targets cocaine production in rebel-held jungles in the south.
The FARC is the largest rebel force fighting in the country’s war, which has killed 40,000 people in the past decade alone. Last week, the FARC announced it would end its roadside kidnappings as part of a deal with the government to rescue the peace negotiations.
It bankrolls its war on the state with ransom payments from hundreds of kidnappings each year.