ROME, Sept 28 (AFP) - World leaders joined Italians in expressing relief and delight Tuesday following news of the release of two Italian female aid workers held hostage by insurgents in Iraq for almost three weeks.
"It is a moment of great joy," declared Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi. "After so many days, so many nights, so many paths trodden and 16 negotiations launched keeping us all in suspense, the story ends," he told an impromptu news conference.
Italian President Carlo Ciampi said he shared with their families joy at the news of the freeing of aid workers Simona Torretta and Simona Pari, seized with two Iraqi fellow-workers on September 7, but added that he shared the pain of those still being held.
Pope John Paul II expressed his "great joy" at the news, the Vatican said.
He had appealed for them, together with all other hostages, to be released shortly after they were kidnapped.
The White House also welcomed the release of the two women. "It is good news to hear, anytime hostages are released in the safe custody of authorities," a spokesman for President George W. Bush said in Crawford, Texas where Bush was preparing for a televised debate with his presidential rival Senator John Kerry later this week.
Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin of France, which is seeking the release of two French journalists held hostage in Iraq since August 20, called on insurgents to free their prisoners.
"I hope that the abductors of our two compatriots in Iraq hear the voice of France, a voice of peace, of sovereignty of all people, of respect for religion and the convictions of all," he told members of his ruling conservative party.
German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer said his country shared the happiness at the news with all the Italian people and in particular with the relatives of the two women.
"At the same time, our concerns and thoughts are with the hostages still being held in Iraq."
Romano Prodi, the outgoing President of the European Commission and himself Italian, said through a spokesman that he was "very happy for the hostages and their families..this liberation is a good sign."
In Warsaw the foreign ministry said the news was "fantastic." It could mean that the terrorists had reacted positively to the measures taken by the world community, which had underlined that many hostages were people who had gone to Iraq to help the country.
In Britain two prominent Muslims who returned Tuesday from Iraq on a mission to negotiate the release of British hostage Ken Bigley welcomed the news of the freeing of the two Simonas.
"I am hopeful," said Daoud Abdullah.
"I think this is positive news that has come out today," said Iqbal Sacranie, secretary general of the Muslim Council of Britain. "If anything one can look at in a very positive light. Provided that good news are forthcoming, there is a greater hope."
In Rome, hundreds of people cheered and applauded outside the home of Torretta.
"We`ve spoken to the Baghdad ambassador. The information is 100 percent certain and we are already celebrating," Annamaria Torretta, the mother of Simona, said on Italian television.
Mrs Toretta and Simona`s two sisters appeared on the balcony of their apartment in Rome to wave at hundreds of applauding people gathered below.
"I`m so happy, overwhelmingly happy," said Simona Pari`s father, Luciano, from his home in Rimini on the Adriatic coast.