KHARTOUM - Two civilian peacekeepers were freed by kidnappers in Sudan's Darfur region on Sunday after more than 100 days in captivity, officials said.

Gunmen abducted the Nigerian man and the Zimbabwean woman from Darfur's joint U.N./African Union peacekeeping mission in the west Darfur town of Zalingei in August in one of a new wave of kidnappings.

U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon took the unusual step of phoning Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir this month to ask him to step up efforts to free the two peacekeepers.

United Nations officials said the Nigerian man was a UNAMID security officer, while the Zimbabwean woman was part of the force's child protection team.

It was not clear what the kidnappers had been demanding as the price of the hostages' freedom.