By Graeme Hosken
Crime Reporter
For two weeks, disorientated and mentally and emotionally tortured, four South African police peacekeepers were driven hundreds of kilometres through the desert by heavily armed Sudanese rebels.
Their captors, whose real demands and reasons for the release of their victims senior police and government officials have refused to divulge, always kept one step ahead of specialised South African police and military, and UN search and rescue parties - who were apparently poised to carry out a paramilitary operation to rescue their colleagues.
The rebels, known as the Popular Revolutionary Force, abducted Colonel Ntlogeleng Aucone, Captain Michael Annett, Sergeant Michael Melanzi and Constable Macey Ramantsi at gunpoint as they returned to their base in Nyala - a town in southern Sudan's war-torn region of Darfur.
The four, who were among 500 South African policemen and women currently taking part in the African Union - United Nations Mission in Darfur (Unamid), were returning from work when they were attacked by gunmen armed with A-47s.
Bundled into vehicles, they were driven off at high speed into the desert.
Not knowing what was going to happen to them or where they were, the unarmed policemen and women could do nothing except pray.
Reluctant to divulge too much information on their abduction, the four, who landed at Wonderboom Airport outside Pretoria on Thursday afternoon, on Friday said their ordeal had been "hell".
Annett, who is stationed at Cape Town Central police station, said when the rebels hit them, they did not know what to expect.
"There were so many. They were heavily armed and very quick," said Annett, who according to police was initially mistaken for a US national.
Describing their abduction and treatment, Annett said day-in and day-out they were emotionally tortured and abused.
"They were playing mind games with us. They would tell us we were being released and then tell us we were not. They would tell us were going to be rescued and then tell us we had been abandoned.
"They did everything in the book to try and break us. In the end the only way we could overcome the abuse was to make a joke of it. If we didn't, I don't know how we would have survived," he said, describing their release as an emotional relief.
The emotional torture is also believed to have included threats of decapitation, although none of the four would comment on the allegations.
Melanzi, a Brooklyn detective, describing the abduction: "They forced us to a stop with their vehicles. They were heavily armed. There was nothing we could do. I don't know what would have happened if we had tried to do something."
Speaking about their captivity, Melanzi said it had been extremely difficult.
"It was more than hard. It was emotionally draining. We were scared because we did not know what was going to happen to us, but had to be strong for each other. We had to keep our cool because if we did not, we would have been finished," he said.
Describing how their captors constantly kept them moving in an attempt to stay ahead of search and rescue parties, Melanzi said they were driven around Darfur.
"We drove and drove. We were constantly on the move," he said.
Ramantsi said they were grateful to be alive.
"We did not know how it was going to end. We are just grateful that it is over and that we weren't violated in anyway," she said.
Aucone, who is stationed in Pretoria, thanked the South African public, government, police, army and the UN for their support,
"We are safe, we are alive. Thank you, thank you for being there for us," she said, as her daughter, Thato, fought back tears while her mother described their relief at returning home.
Aucone, who commands a group of 500 UN officials, said the attack was incredibly quick. "We did not know if we were going to live or die. We had no idea where we were going. We were at their mercy and there was nothing we could do," she said.
She said the bond between them now was something that could not be broken.
"We shared something terrible which brought us close together, which made us as a group inseparable and stronger than ever," she said.
All four said they would be returning to Sudan to complete the rest of their mission.
"We do not want to look like cowards and want to raise our flag to show the world what we, as South Africans, are doing for peace," said Melanzi.
National police commissioner, General Bheki Cele, who was adamant that no ransom had been paid, said they had been living on the edge since the start of the abduction.
Admitting that they had not known how serious the situation was until the four returned, Cele said: "We had no idea. I do not know how we would have handled the situation if three of them had come walking back with one of their colleague's head. It was that bad.
"I do not know what we would have done. It was this and numerous other questions that we were constantly asking ourselves," he said, adding that cool heads had prevented them from carrying out plans, "which could have had serious consequences".