Cabinda hostages could soon be free

A Cabinda separatist representative told the Portuguese Lusa news agency on Thursday in Lisbon that five Portuguese hostages would be released “within days”, in the wake of negotiations with the leader of Portugal’s main opposition Social Democratic Party (PSD), Jose Manuel Durao Barroso. Carlos Reis of Angola‘s Cabinda Enclave Liberation Front-Renewed (FLEC-R) was commenting on statements by Durao Barroso, who he had met earlier on Thursday with a Portuguese hostage released in March by the rival FLEC-Cabinda Armed Forces (FLEC-FAC) faction.

The PSD leader told media after the encounter that a message he received on Wednesday from FLEC-R indicated that its hostages may be released in the near future. However, he cautioned that the message must be handled “with some prudence”, adding that he had informed Prime Minister Antonio Guterres of its contents.

Queried by Lusa, foreign ministry spokesman Horacio Cesar reiterated that Lisbon would only release details of its efforts to secure the hostages’ release after that goal is attained.
FLEC-R kidnapped five Portuguese construction workers in Cabinda on 9 March. Two other Portuguese have been held hostage for the past year by FLEC-FAC, which released a third, Sergio Fidalgo, in early April. On the basis of a late-19th century treaty with Portugal, the FLEC separatists do not recognize Angolan sovereignty over Cabinda, an oil-rich coastal enclave separated from the rest of Angola by territory belonging to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).