At least 24 truck drivers, among them three Kenyans, have been kidnapped by the Mai-Mai militia in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.
The truck drivers were been kidnapped by rebels while heading to Namoya gold mine in Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
Tanzania’s foreign ministry spokesperson Mindi Kasiga says, the 21 Tanzanians and three Kenyans had been driving trucks belonging to two companies registered in Tanzania.
They were kidnapped in Lulimba area, in South Kivu province, while they were on their way to the Namoya gold mine in Maniema province.
Eastern DRC has been rocked by more than 20 years of armed conflict among both domestic and foreign armed groups, fuelled by struggle for control of lucrative mineral resources as well as ethnic and property disputes.
In September, 2016 the militia group abducted eight drivers and scorched four Tanzanian trucks in South Kivu.
Congolese army is fighting the Mai-Mai rebels in South Kivu the operation which has so far left 12 people dead.