Seven Chinese hostages who were freed by an armed gang in Cameroon’s southwest Bakassi region arrived “traumatised” Thursday in Yaounde, the capital, Chinese source said.
The seven fishermen went straight to the Chinese embassy, where ambassador Xue Jinwei received them over lunch and listened to their six-day ordeal, a Chinese diplomat said.
“Even if they weren’t assaulted they were traumatised”, a source close to the Chinese embassy said on condition of anonymity. “Some want to go home others want to stay, but they are still hesitating.”
The Chinese diplomat said that it would be up to the private Chinese company that employed the men, Dalian Beihai, to decide whether they would be repatriated or not.
They were kidnapped on March 12 off the Bakassi peninsula, which is rich in fish stocks and believed to have substantial oil reserves, and they were freed on Wednesday and taken by boat to the port of Limbe.
They spent the night in the economic capital, Douala.
Their kidnapping was claimed by a hitherto unknown group that called itself Africa Marine Commando.
On Tuesday, China’s foreign ministry said in Beijing that China and the ambassadors in the countries concerned were working for the release of the seven men.
A Cameroonian source close to negotiations said that the kidnappers had upped a ransom demand of 15,000 dollars (11,000 euros) to 25,000 dollars for the release of the hostages.
The source was unable to say whether a ransom had been paid, but did not rule it out. Chinese sources would not comment on the possibility that a ransom had been paid.
Quoted by the Xinhua news agency, the Chinese ambassador said the men were freed with help from the Cameroonian authorities.
Several groups, mostly armed, are active in the Bakassi peninsula, which was handed over to Cameroon by Nigeria in August 2008 under an international court settlement of a border dispute. Elite Cameroonian troops patrol the peninsula.