Colombia's
Farc rebel group have freed four Chinese hostages who had been held captive for
17 months.
The
oil-company workers were released days after the start of peace talks between
the leftist rebels and the Colombian government in Cuba.
Earlier
this year, the Farc said they would no longer resort to kidnapping or holding
prisoners.
The four
Chinese nationals are thought to have been the only foreign hostages held by
the group.
Earlier
this week Farc leaders declared a two-month ceasefire.
The Marxist
group has been fighting against the government for five decades, in a conflict
in which some 600,000 people have died.
Colombian
President Juan Manual Santos said he had spoken to Chinese embassy officials
and wanted to celebrate the release of the hostages.
"Kidnapping
is something that should never happen again," he wrote on his Twitter
feed.
The workers
were turned over to Red Cross staff in a rural area of southern Colombia.
Officials
said they were in good health.
The four
men were working for the British oil company Emerald Energy, a subsidiary of
China's Sinochem, when they were snatched in March 2011.
The Farc,
who numbered 16,000 in 2001, are now thought to have some 8,000 fighters.
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