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Cameroon rebels release hostages Cameroon rebels release hostages
(about 1 hour later)
Rebels in Cameroon have freed 10 people - mostly French nationals - seized from an oil vessel last month, French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner says. Rebels in Cameroon have freed 10 people - mostly French nationals - seized from an oil vessel last month.
They were captured off the Bakassi peninsula by a group opposed to the transfer of the oil-rich region from Nigeria to Cameroon.They were captured off the Bakassi peninsula by a group opposed to the transfer of the oil-rich region from Nigeria to Cameroon.
The rebels had threatened to kill the hostages if Cameroon's government did not talk to them. The rebels had threatened to kill the hostages if Cameroon did not re-open talks on the region's status.
There was no word on the circumstances of the release. French President Nicolas Sarkozy expressed his relief and thanked the Cameroonian government for its help.
A spokesman for the French foreign ministry, Frederic Desagneaux, said that the freed hostages were being transferred to the capital, Yaounde, for medical checks. The freed hostages were employed by the French shipping group, Bourbon.
"According to our information, they are in good health, even though, obviously, the local conditions of the place where they were [being held], were not the best," he said. The 10 men were in good health and safe in the Cameroonian capital, Yaounde, according to the company's website.
The French foreign minister, Bernard Kouchner, thanked Cameroon for its help. Bourbon said eight of the crew members - seven French citizens and a Tunisian - would be returning to Paris as soon as possible to be reunited with their families and friends.
"I express my gratitude to the Cameroonian authorities and in particular President Paul Biya, whose constant mobilisation enabled the liberation of the 10 hostages," he said in a statement. The two other men taken hostage were from Cameroon.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy expressed his "deep relief" at the news. A French official in Paris told the AFP news agency that no ransom had been paid to the kidnappers, and that the release of the hostages followed discussions involving the Cameroonian authorities.
The seven French nationals, two Cameroonians and a Tunisian, who were working for the French oil company Bourbon, were seized from their ship by gunmen in speedboats off the coast of the Bakassi region on 31 October. "There was no rescue operation," the official added.
A group called the Bakassi Freedom Fighters said it was holding them. It opposes Cameroon's takeover of the Bakassi peninsula. Families' relief
Nigeria handed the territory to Cameroon in August 2008, ending a long-standing dispute between the two countries. The wife of the vessel's kidnapped captain said she was overjoyed at the news.
"I'm so happy, I wasn't expecting this," exclaimed Mayrise Tallec who was contacted by AFP from her home in the French fishing port of Concarneau.
"There were negotiations going on, but it was very quick."
The men were seized from their ship by gunmen in speedboats off the coast of the Bakassi region on 31 October.
A group called the Bakassi Freedom Fighters said it was holding them.
Nigeria handed the Bakassi peninsula to Cameroon in August 2008, ending a long-standing dispute between the two countries.
But the majority of the local population considers itself Nigerian, even though an international court ruled in Cameroon's favour in 2002.But the majority of the local population considers itself Nigerian, even though an international court ruled in Cameroon's favour in 2002.