The Congolese army frees the Spanish doctor kidnapped in Easter
Posted on April 14, 2010 by storm
Mario Sarsa, the Spanish doctor kidnapped this Easter by a rebel group in northeastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), was released yesterday by the country’s military forces, who found him in good health, and planned to travel today to the country’s capital, Kinshasa, after being evacuated last night to the town of Mbandaka, said sources with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Chief of Staff of the Army of the Congo reported the release to the Ambassador of Spain in the African country, Felix Costales, diplomatic sources confirmed in Spain. Costales had moved on Monday to Mbandaka, the main town of the province Equatorial Congolese efforts to care directly to locate Sarsa and thanked the country’s military authorities, which are those that have rescued the Aragonese-born doctor will manage their transportation to the capital.
Down the river
Sarsa was kidnapped on day 4 when he was vacationing aboard a ship on which he ran the Congo River with the intention to reach Kinshasa. The ship was assaulted by the rebels of ethnic enyele during the attack on the town of Mbandaka. Affairs confirmed the kidnapping on Saturday, when activated the emergency protocol to try to free him.
The physician, 55, was due to return to Spain on April 19 after more than two months off down the river dedicated to the Congo. Sarsa is a specialist in tropical medicine and a great knowledge of Africa, a continent that has devoted much of his career of 25 years, but now works as a doctor in the town booster Caspe Zaragoza and lives in the town of Alcaniz Teruel .
The doctor’s family warmly welcomed the news that sent him directly to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
A few days after the kidnapping of the physician know, the Congolese Minister of Communication, Lambert Mende, said the rebels had shaved body hair Sarsa for making magic charms with which to protect themselves in battle. The pro-government militias and rebels from Congo often use traditional beads and charms to adorn for battle with the belief that protect them from enemy bullets. Some even believe that amulets can turn bullets into water.
