Gunmen in the Central African Republic have freed the minister for
youth and sport Armel Ningatoloum Sayo, who was kidnapped in January,
the minister’s spokesman said on Wednesday. Reuters report:
Armel Ningatoloum Sayo was kidnapped on Jan. 25 as part
of a spate of hostage-taking linked to the anti-balaka militia that
included the brief kidnapping of a U.N. staff member and a French
charity worker.
The seizures highlight insecurity in the impoverished country where
thousands have been killed and around a million displaced from their
homes since the mainly Muslim Seleka rebels took power in March 2013.
The group gave up power last year in the face of diplomatic pressure
and violence by the “anti-balaka” militia, who are mainly Christian or
animist, but it still controls the northeastern portion of the country.
Sayo was returning from church with his wife and brother in north
Bangui when four gunmen in a taxi stopped his vehicle, shot in the air
and seized him before fleeing towards an anti-balaka stronghold, said
his spokesman Tatiana Yangeko at the time.
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