12 deminers kidnapped in southern Senegal

An official says that 12 Senegalese employees of a South African demining company are missing in southern Senegal and are believed to have been kidnapped by a rebel group active in the country's Casamance province.
Fred Weyers, the local director of Mechem, a Pretoria-based company that specializes in demining said that the 12 deminers went missing Friday between noon and 3 p.M. and are believed to have been taken by rebels belonging to the MFDC rebel group, which has been fighting a low-level rebellion in the area for over a decade.
Weyers said: "I confirm that the 12 deminers we sent yesterday in the zone of Nyassia were abducted by combatants from the MFDC. They went to lay the groundwork for a demining operation.