Mayi-Mayi release remaining hostages

A faction of the Mayi-Mayi tribal militia in northeastern DRC calling itself the Lumumbist National Resistance, on Sunday released one Kenyan and 16 Thai hostages who had been held captive for more than two months, news agencies reported at the weekend. According to the Associated Press (AP), the hostages were released without condition after Francois Lumumba, eldest son of the DRC’s first prime minister, the late Patrice Lumumba, spent six days in negotiations. In an interview with Radio France Internationale (RFI) on Sunday, Lumumba said he was “very proud because...the Mayi-Mayi fighters did not impose any material conditions before releasing the hostages. They did so because for them the most important thing was to show the entire world that there is looting going on in Congo...I am proud of our compatriots who did not consider the payment of ransom as the sine qua non condition for the release of the hostages.”

Twenty-five foreigners, including 23 Thais, a Swede and a Kenyan were taken hostage during a 15 May raid on a logging camp in Mangina, DRC, near the Ugandan border, by the Mayi-Mayi faction, accusing them of exploiting the DRC’s natural resources. The Swedish national and seven Thais were released in June. The Thais worked for the Thai-Ugandan Dara Forest logging company.

Earlier this month, the Mayi-Mayi asked Thailand’s ambassador in Nairobi to involve Lumumba in negotiations for the hostages’ release. Lumumba’s late father Patrice was a leader in Congo’s struggle for independence in 1960, and is regarded as a hero by most Congolese. The elder Lumumba was arrested in 1961 by late dictator Mobutu Sese Seko, and killed soon after in circumstances that remain unclear.