One of three UN workers held hostage by a Taliban splinter group in Afghanistan telephoned a friend in her home town in Kosovo today and said she is well and not being badly treated, a relative said.
Ms Shqipe Hebibi spoke to a female friend in her hometown of Pec who passed a message on to her brother, said the relative, who did not want to be identified.
"She said only a few words," the relative said. "She said: 'I feel very well, nobody has treated me badly and I hope to see you soon.'"
Ms Hebibi, who helped run Afghanistan's presidential election last month, was abducted in Kabul on October 28th along with fellow UN workers Filipino diplomat Mr Angelito Nayan and Ms Annetta Flanigan from Northern Ireland.
Some of the 26 prisoners Afghan militants have demanded freed as part of a deal to release three kidnapped UN workers could be in the US military jail at Guantanamo Bay, a militant spokesman said today.
The Taliban splinter faction said it held talks through intermediaries with UN and government officials at the weekend and it was willing to "soften" other demands for the release of the three if their comrades were freed.
Filipino diplomat Angelito Nayan, Annetta Flanigan from Northern Ireland and Kosovan Shqipe Hebibi, who had helped run Afghanistan's presidential elections, were abducted in Kabul on October 28th.
Mullah Sabir Momin, one of several men claiming to speak for the Jaish-e Muslimeen (Army of Muslims), said 16 of the 26 Taliban members had been arrested a few weeks ago in southern Afghanistan and could still be in detention there.
"Ten others are old prisoners who could be in Cuba or Bagram," he said referring to the US detention centers at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba and at the main US base in Afghanistan.
The Taliban denounced the poll, won by US-backed incumbent Hamid Karzai, as a US-orchestrated sham.
The kidnappers have threatened to kill the hostages unless their demands, which have also included the suspension of UN Afghan operations, were met, but several deadlines have passed.
They say the health of the three has deteriorated due to the cold and poor diet.
Another militant spokesman, Sayed Khalid Agha, said the group had agreed to a government request for two days to locate the 26 prisoners and had given until Tuesday. "Then the second round of negotiations will start," he said.