Nine Senegalese mine-clearing operatives taken hostage in May have been freed by separatist rebels in southern Senegal. Released to officials in Guinea-Bissau, they are due to be handed over to the Senegalese authorities this weekend.
The hostages, all male, were clearing mines for a South African firm which began working in August last year in the Senegalese province of Casamance, where separatist rebels have been fighting since 1982.
The government and rebels signed a peace pact at the end of 2004, raising hopes for end to the ongoing conflict in Casamance, which borders The Gambia and Guinea-Bissau.
However, one faction of the Casamance Movement of Democratic Forces has continued to engage in conflict.
Cheikh Tidiane Dieng, the governor of the Ziguinchor region of Casamance, said he did not know if a ransom had been paid to secure the hostages’ release, the Associated Press news agency reports.
According to the AFP, rebel leader Cesar Adoute Badiate said that he was “freeing the bomb disposal experts in the name of Casamance.”
In May, Badiate already released three women who had been captured with the nine men “on humanitarian grounds.”
The 12 individuals, employed by the specialist de-mining company Mechem, were kidnapped on 3 May about 18 miles from the city of Zinguinchor.
Over the past five years there has been a drive to clear land mines from Casamance, where agriculture has been especially badly affected by their presence. Some settlements have lain abandoned for years and farmers have been unable to plant crops for fear of mines buried in the soil.
