A British aid worker kidnapped in war-torn Somalia last week has been released and is making his way to safety, Save the Children said Wednesday.
"We understand that our colleague Frans Barnard ... is now on his way to a place of safety," the British charity's spokeswoman in the Kenyan capital Nairobi, Anna Ford, told the German Press Agency dpa.
"We are cautiously optimistic at this point, but we continue to be concerned about his safety," she added.
The Zimbabwe-born Barnard and a Somali colleague were kidnapped last Thursday in the town of Adado, central Somalia, which lies in a region seen as less dangerous than areas further south.
They were exploring the possibility of establishing a presence in the area for the charity.
Barnard's colleague has already been released.
Somalia has been in the grip of an Islamist insurgency for almost three years. It has claimed more than 21,000 lives.
The chaos-ridden Horn of Africa nation has not had an effective central government since the 1991 ouster of dictator Mohamed Siad Barre.
Pirate groups and various armed militia also operate in the country, seizing aid workers and seamen for ransom.
Foreign aid workers rarely venture into south and central Somalia due to the dangerous conditions.