Johannesburg - Reports of 12 South African deminers kidnapped in Senegal are untrue, the international relations and co-operation department said on Sunday.
“That's not true. No South African has been kidnapped in Senegal,” spokesman Clayson Monyela said.
According to German wire service dpa 12 employees of a South African demining company were kidnapped in Senegal's restive Casamance region.
Workers of Mechem reportedly went missing Friday and the regional authorities were seeking their release. It was unclear who was behind the kidnapping, dpa reported, quoting a Senegalese news agency.
Associated Press also reported that Fred Weyers, the local director of Mechem, a Pretoria-based company that specialises in demining, had said that the 12 deminers went missing on Friday between noon and 3pm and are believed to have been taken by rebels belonging to the MFDC rebel group, which has been fighting a low-level rebellion in the area for over a decade.
"I confirm that the 12 deminers we sent yesterday in the zone of Nyassia were abducted by combatants from the MFDC. They went to lay the groundwork for a demining operation," Weyers was quoted as saying.
The separatist Movement of Democratic Forces of Casamance (MFDC) had been fighting for independence in Casamance since 1982.
The MFDC banned clearing the area of mines, a local official told the West African country's news agency, adding: “For them, clearing the area is synonymous with crime.” - Sapa
IOLSA