Three men kidnapped in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo work for a specialised private firm subcontracted by the UN anti-mine service, the UN mission in the country said Friday.
“These are not UN personnel, they are private agents employed by a private company hired by (the UN Mine Action Service) UNMAS,” Charles Bambara, information director at the mission in the Congo (MONUSCO) told AFP.
Nobody has claimed responsibility for Thursday’s abduction of the three men at Kibumba in North Kivu province, where a Congolese army officer said his troops had found an abandoned MONUSCO car with markings of the local UN demining team, known as UN-MAG.
“The motor was running and the car was empty. Apparently those inside were kidnapped,” added the officer, who asked not to be named.
A UN official on Thursday told AFP that “three agents of MONUSCO … were kidnapped at Kibumba,” 30 miles (19 miles) north of Goma, the provincial capital. The men were identified as two Congolese and one foreigner.
UN-MAG is responsible for disarming mines and defusing other unexploded weaponry in North Kivu, which has been wracked by conflict for more than 20 years and is a base for rebels and other armed groups.
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