Tbilisi, 14 October 1999 (RFE/RL) - The head of Georgia's National
Security Council, Nugzar Sadzhaya, announced today that four of the seven UN workers kidnapped yesterday have been released. Unidentified gunmen yesterday seized six UN military observers and their translator in the town of Azhara in the breakaway republic of Abkhazia.
Georgian state television says the hostages released today are from Germany, Switzerland, Uruguay, and the Czech Republic. There was no immediate word on how their release was obtained or on their condition. The kidnappers had been demanding a $250,000 ransom.