* Charity says no ransom paid
* Suspected kidnappers get provisional three month jail term
(Adds jail sentence in paras 8-9)
By Abdi Guled
MOGADISHU, Oct 20 (Reuters) - A British contractor kidnapped in Somalia while working for aid group Save the Children has been freed after negotiations with his captors, local officials said on Wednesday.
Regional officials in central Somalia said Frans Barnard, a Nairobi-based security consultant, was freed late on Tuesday about 250 km (150 miles) from the town of Adado where he was abducted last week.
Within Somalia, the kidnapping of foreign nationals has become relatively rare because nearly all aid agencies have barred expatriate workers from operating there after hardline Islamist militants gained control of more territory.
Mohamed Mohamud, an official with the Himan and Heb regional administration, told Reuters: "They (the kidnappers) have freed the man ... and he is now in the hands of our administration. The man is in good health and happy.
"His agency will take him away and we are happy with his release."
Barnard and a Somali co-worker, Bashiir Yusuf, were seized last Thursday when masked gunmen stormed a guesthouse compound in Adado near the border with Ethiopia. Yusuf was freed hours later.
Save the Children had been assessing the feasibility of starting up a humanitarian project there.
A local official said nine suspected kidnappers detained by security forces had been handed an automatic three month jail sentence by the chief regional administrator, pending their trial.
"They will likely be sentenced to longer than that term but that decision will be made at their trial," Himan and Heb official Abdullahi Farah told Reuters.
&${esc.hash}39;NO RANSOM&${esc.hash}39;
The charity said no cash had changed hands to secure Barnard&${esc.hash}39;s release during negotiations led by local clan elders.
"Save the Children&${esc.hash}39;s policy is that we do not pay ransoms and we did not pay a ransom to secure Frans&${esc.hash}39; release," the charity&${esc.hash}39;s chief executive, Justin Forsyth, said in a statement.
The UK-based aid group said Barnard was safe and well and was being moved to a more secure place in Somalia.
British Prime Minister David Cameron said he was delighted by Barnard&${esc.hash}39;s release.
Kidnapping for ransoms has become a major money-spinner in lawless Somalia, notably among the pirate gangs that plague the Gulf of Aden, one of the world&${esc.hash}39;s busiest shipping lanes.
Adado, the capital of the Himan and Heb region, is considered more stable than much of the Horn of Africa nation where Islamist rebels are fighting to topple the Western-supported administration. (Additional reporting by Richard Lough in Nairobi and Tim Castle and Michael Holden in London; Writing by Richard Lough; Editing by James Macharia) (nairobi.newsroom@reuters.com; +254 20 222 4717) (For more Reuters Africa coverage and to have your say on the top issues, visit: http://af.reuters.com/)
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