/ 18 April 2006

Employer urges release of Kenyan hostages in Iraq

Iraqna Mobile Phone Company made a fresh plea on Tuesday for the release of two Kenyan telecommunication engineers kidnapped in Baghdad three months ago.

Iraqna, a subsidiary of the Cairo-based Orascom Telecommunications, ran advertisements in most Iraqi dailies on Tuesday asking the captors of the two engineers — Moses Munyao and George Noballa — to free them unharmed.

”We appeal to the captors to release them so they can return to their families soon,” said the appeal in the al-Mashriq daily.

”The two engineers came to Iraq to help rebuild the country.”

The advertisement carried photographs of the wives of the two engineers.

Munyao (32)and Noballa (42) were seized on January 18 while on the way to repair a transmission station in Abu Ghraib on the capital’s western outskirts.

They were abducted from a road tunnel by gunmen who ambushed their convoy. Three Iraqi drivers and seven bodyguards were killed in the ambush.

In July 2004, three Kenyan truck drivers were kidnapped along with four other truckers.

They were released in September the same year after their company allegedly paid a ransom of $500 000.

Kenya does not have troops in Iraq but a number of its citizens work for foreign companies operating in the country. – Sapa-AFP