DAR ES SALAAM, July 5 (Xinhua) -- Tanzanian authorities on Wednesday appealed to authorities in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) to help release its 21 nationals abducted late last month by Mai Mai rebels in the jungles of the vast central African nation.
The Tanzanian truck drivers were kidnapped on June 29 along with three Kenyan drivers.
They were abducted at Lulimba area, 100 km away from Baraka town in South Kivu, while heading to Namoya Gold Mine in Mainiema Province. The rebels also took away their property.
Mindi Kasiga, Head of Communications Department in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and East African Cooperation, said despite the fact that the drivers had been set free yet they were still in difficult situation since they could not move unaccompanied from the area.
"The drivers have been set free by the rebels but they are in some way unsafe. They are unable to move from the area because they don't have logistics such as money and they are also worrying about their safety," said Kasiga.
She added: "The government is doing all it could to ensure all the Tanzanian drivers are rescued safely."
She said the rebels attacked the trucks which were under the escort of the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (FARDC), taking all property which was in the trucks after an intensive fire exchange with the FARDC officers.
Kasiga said the Tanzanian government through its embassy in the DRC was communicating with the DRC government to see how they could rescue the trapped drivers.
Kasiga urged Tanzanians specifically truck drivers and business people to suspend their travels or seek travel advice before embarking on such trips to known risky areas around the world, including the DRC.
In September last year DRC's Mai Mai rebels torched four Tanzanian trucks and abducted eight drivers at Namoyo, South Kivu.
