A Zimbabwean man employed by a Canadian gold mining firm in the Democratic Republic of Congo was last Friday morning kidnapped by armed bandits in the wartorn country.<\/p>\n
A DRC army spokesperson, Captain Dieudonne Kasereka on Monday confirmed that a Zimbabwean national and a South African working for Banro were kidnapped in the restive South Kivu province at around 10.30 am. The army officer did not name the kidnapped miners but confirmed a manhunt had been launched to secure their release.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Banro officials were ambushed by armed bandits on Friday at 10.30 am between Salamabila and Kitindi in the Maniema region,\u201d Kasereka told the DRC media.<\/p>\n
The South Kivu province borders the neighbouring countries of Rwanda and Burundi and it is an area mostly operated by rebel militias.<\/p>\n
Kasereka however indicated unconfirmed reports claimed there were as many as four officials who had been seized, but the military only had solid information relating to two foreign nationals.<\/p>\n
\u201cSources speak of four officials kidnapped but the report we have is that a South African and a Zimbabwean were kidnapped by rebels active in the region. The army has been hunting for them,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
A Banro official is reported to have confirmed the kidnapping but did not give further details.<\/p>\n
The company\u2019s operations have been affected by illegal gold miners and armed groups and in 2017, Banro was forced to stop operations at one of its mines after a deadly attack.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A Zimbabwean man employed by a Canadian gold mining firm in the Democratic Republic of Congo was last Friday morning kidnapped by armed bandits in the wartorn country. A DRC army spokesperson, Captain Dieudonne Kasereka on Monday confirmed that a Zimbabwean national and a South African working for Banro were kidnapped in the restive South […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":11782,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,4],"tags":[128,469,124],"class_list":{"0":"post-11781","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-all-news","8":"category-community","9":"tag-community","10":"tag-kidnap","11":"tag-military"},"yoast_head":"\n