Despite several efforts by local leaders and the United Nations officials, the fate of six Nepali peacekeepers abducted a month earlier in Congo by militants remains uncertain.

UN officials and local leaders are making efforts to release them but there hasn’t been any breakthrough.

According to the Major Ashok Gurung of the Directorate of Public Relations (DPR) of the Nepali Army (NA), there hasn’t been any progress for the release the six Nepali peacekeepers abducted by Congolese militants in the last week of May.

“We received message last week that efforts for their release are underway. Our contingency office in Congo is trying its best but we have not received further information about their condition,” Gurung told Nepalnews on Monday.

Officials at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs expressed innocence about the status and the efforts made by the UN to free the Nepali peacekeepers.

Earlier reports said that specialist negotiators had gone to Congo from the UN headquarters in New York in a bid to hold secretive talks with the leaders of the insurgent group that abducted the Nepali peacekeepers on May 28 during an encounter. One NA soldier was killed during the encounter and three others injured.

UN officials had rejected the rebel demand for US$ 20,000 ransom for the release of each six kidnapped Nepali soldiers.

Leaders of local Lendu community joined hands with the UN experts to release them but without success. They had collected US$500 locally to offer for the kidnapped Nepalis.

Major Gurung said the NA could confirm that the soldiers are alive and in good condition.

The fighters are said to have been keeping the hostages in a remote district, which saw heavy fighting in recent months between Congolese troops backed by UN peacekeepers and militant groups.