Lusaka to negotiate release of hostages

Zambian officials were expected to fly to Angola on Monday to negotiate the release of 13 villagers abducted by Angolan soldiers in Zambia’s northwestern district of Chavuma, a state newspaper reported on Monday. Reuters reported that the government-owned ‘Daily Mail’ said Defence Minister Joshuah Simuyandi would lead the Zambian delegation to Luanda. The villagers were abducted last month and are still in captivity in an unknown location, it added. The newspaper suggested the villagers were abducted in retaliation for the arrest of 12 Angolan soldiers who it said were detained in Zambia for their own security. It quoted Simuyandi as saying that the Zambian government was arranging to hand the soldiers back to Angola. Zambia’s defence ministry declined comment on the report. The ‘Daily Mail’ quoted Simuyandi as saying that “the Angolan government suspected that the soldiers had been held as prisoners when they were being merely held for safe custody while making arrangements to transport them to Angola.”