French hostage freed in Democratic Republic Congo

PARIS: A Frenchman who was abducted nearly two months ago in the Democratic Republic of Congo has been freed, the office of President Emmanuel Macron announced Sunday.

A French diplomat said the freed hostage was among five gold mine workers who were seized on March 1 in the east of the troubled country.

The hostages worked for Banro, a Canadian gold mining corporation that runs two mines in DR Congo and is exploring for the mineral elsewhere in the vast, resourcerich country.

Macron praised the DR Congo authorities “for their mobilisation and the effectiveness of their action” in obtaining the French hostage’s release, his office said in a statement.

The DR Congo interior ministry said a Tanzanian worker who was among the four other hostages was freed in April, but three Congolese workers remain in captivity.

Kidnappings are frequent in DR Congo’s east, which has suffered nearly two decades of brutal conflict, with neighbouring states backing rebel groups in a civil war against Kinshasa’s authority, and roaming armed militia triggering the mass flight of terrorised civilians.

The United Nations has 19,000 soldiers, police and military observers deployed in the DR Congo, its biggest and costliest peacekeeping mission, with an annual budget of US$ 1.2 billion. — AFP