Eight staff members of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) have been abducted in the Democratic Republic of Congo by armed militants, the humanitarian organization said Tuesday, DPA reported.
"We demand that the group holding our personnel release them as quickly as possible," said Franz Rauchenstein, head of the ICRC delegation in the country.
A Swiss delegate and seven Congolese staff members have been held since Friday in the vicinity of Fizi by Mai Mai Yakutumba, an armed group operating in the South Kivu province, a volatile area.
They were seized after completing an assessment of the needs of displaced people in the area, the ICRC said in a statement, noting also that the aid group also carried out water projects recently in the region.
"We continue to insist that the strictly neutral, impartial and humanitarian nature of our work be recognized, and that our colleagues be able to return to their loved ones soon," Rauchenstein said.
Earlier this month a Spanish doctor was kidnapped in DR Congo.
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