[1] Cabindan rebels kidnapped and ransomed off foreign oil workers throughout the 1990s to in turn finance further attacks against the national government.
A large scale battle took place between FLEC and police in Malongo on May 14 in which 25 mortar rounds accidentally hit a nearby Chevron compound.
In February 1997, FLEC-FAC kidnapped two Inwangsa SDN-timber company employees, killing one and releasing the other after receiving a US$400,000 ransom.
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.