 FLEC-R kidnapped five Byansol oil engineering employees, two Frenchman, two Portuguese, and an Angolan, on March, 1999.While militants released the Angolan, the government complicated the situation by promising the rebel leadership $12.5 million for the hostages.When António Bento Bembe, the President of FLEC-R, showed up, the Angolan army arrested him and his bodyguards.