Kidnapped workers set free

The five Chinese workers kidnapped in Nigeria on January 5 were set free on Wednesday night, the Foreign Ministry announced yesterday.

They are in good health and were scheduled to arrive in the Nigerian capital Abuja yesterday, Xinhua reported.

Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao expressed appreciation for the support and assistance provided by the Nigerian government but refused to say whether a ransom was paid.

He told a regular news briefing that President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao had earlier ordered the Foreign Ministry and Chinese embassy and consulate in Nigeria to do everything possible to rescue the workers.

The workers were employed by Teleken Engineering, a telecommunication company based in Southwest China's Sichuan Province and a subsidiary of China Telecom Corp, the country's biggest telephone company.

It had been contracted to install equipment to upgrade rural telephone service in Nigeria.

Since the kidnapping, Teleken workers have been withdrawn from two other locations in Rivers State, where the workers were kidnapped.

"The hostages' release is a big success for China's diplomatic efforts," said Liu Jiangyong, a professor at the Institute of International Studies at Tsinghua University.

Li Wei, director of the Center of Counter-terrorism Studies of the China Institute of Contemporary International Relations, noted that Chinese consular protection has improved dramatically.

The Foreign Ministry set up a consular protection division as well as an emergency response mechanism last year to protect the rights and interests of Chinese nationals overseas.

Last year witnessed more than 30,000 cases that involved consular assistance, mediation and handling.

They covered business disputes, traffic accidents, crimes as well as emergencies such as evacuation of Chinese nationals.

Wei Wei, director of the Division of Consular Affairs, attributed the rise in kidnappings of Chinese nationals overseas to increased business exchanges with other countries.

Nigerian militants have frequently taken foreign workers hostage since launching a wave of attacks on the country's oil industry that have cut oil exports from Africa's leading oil producer by 25 percent.

Some 80 foreign oil workers were seized last year, most of who were released unharmed, foreign news agencies reported.

Rivers State is located in the oil-rich but troubled Niger Delta where there have been more than 10 kidnappings of foreign workers this month. It was the first time Chinese workers were kidnapped.

Also yesterday, Nigeria's militant group, the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, released one of the three Italian hostages it abducted on December 7.