"General Ibrahim Bouchra Ismail, commander of the Sudanese air force in the town of Al-Facher arrived in the town on Tuesday after being held for nearly three months by the rebels," Osman Yussef Kubur said.

The Sudan Liberation Movement rebels freed the general after negotiations with his Al-Massiriya tribe, the governor said.

He was taken by rebels on April 25 during an attack on Al-Facher, the main town in North Darfour in the northwest of Sudan.

WAR.WIRE