High hopes held for kidnapped Chinese
8/1/2007 9:59
Searchers are confident that five Chinese workers kidnapped in Nigeria on
Friday will be released safely, a reliable official said yesterday.
The
official quoted a well-known king of the Emohua council in Rivers state, south
Nigeria, as saying he will "offer necessary assistance to the Chinese rescue
group as well as the state government and the police in rescuing the kidnapped
Chinese."
The official, who refused to be identified, said the king also
believed that the five abducted Chinese workers will be set free
unharmed.
But the official will not reveal the king's name for fear that
it may hinder hostage negotiations.
The Chinese rescue group, headed by
Wang Lei, a political councillor of the Chinese embassy, arrived in Port
Harcourt, the capital of Rivers state, on Saturday afternoon.
Wang said
that the group is made up of three Chinese embassy staff, and two officials from
the telecommunication company that employs the kidnap victims.
He said
they will coordinate with the Rivers state government and the police in securing
the release of the five as early as possible.
Wang quoted Hakeem
Baba-Ahmed, the permanent secretary of the Nigerian Foreign Ministry, as saying
that "the Nigerian government feels very sorry over the kidnapping of Chinese
workers in the Niger Delta."
Ahmed also said that the Nigerian government
will use all of its available resources to contact the kidnappers and fast-track
a release.
The permanent secretary conveyed Nigerian President Olusegun
Obasanjo's great concern over the incident.
So far no group or individual
has claimed responsibility for the kidnapping, and nobody knows the whereabouts
of either the kidnappers or their victims.
Police have now started a
wider search, said Ireju Barasua, public relations officer of the Rivers State
Police Command.
The five Chinese workers in a rural telecom program were
abducted by unidentified armed men. Equipment worth thousands of US dollars was
also taken. The identities of the company and its workers have not been
released.
Chinese President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao ordered the
Foreign Ministry, and China's embassy and consulate in Nigeria, to do everything
possible.
Rivers state is in the oil-rich but troubled Niger Delta where
there have been more than 10 kidnappings of foreign workers since the start of
2006. This is the first time that Chinese workers have been
kidnapped.
Xinhua news
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