Cabinda rebels to release Portuguese hostage

Angolan rebels who have held three Portuguese hostages for almost a year said they would release one captive suffering from advanced hepatitis, AFP reported on Tuesday, quoting the Portuguese embassy. “Yes, he will be released but we have no further information on when,” an embassy spokesperson said. The sick captive, Mota Nunes, was one of three Portuguese men abducted in May last year by the rebel Cabinda Enclave Liberation Front/Cabinda Armed Forces (FLEC-FAC).

There was no information available on the fate of the other two hostages. The announcement coincided with newspaper reports that government troops had captured arms belonging to FLEC-FAC and another group known as FLEC-Renovado, which both seek independence for the northern province of Cabinda.

The latter group has claimed responsibility for abducting five Portuguese construction workers and their Angolan driver on 9 March from the city of Cabinda. The northern province of Cabinda, an Angolan enclave in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), is home to the operations of US oil company Chevron. It pumps more than two-thirds of Angola’s 750,000 barrels a day production from fields offshore Cabinda.