Oil
hostages released but Nigerian rebels issue new threat
By Ola Awoniyi
AFP
ABUJA
Petroleumworld.com 01 31 06
Nigerian insurgents released four kidnapped foreign contractors
on Monday but immediately vowed to press home a series of violent
attacks against the country's key oil and gas industries.
The hostages -- an American, a Briton, a Bulgarian and a Honduran
-- were taken to the capital Abuja where they met President Olusegun
Obasanjo, still wearing the shorts or overalls they had worn during
19 days in captivity.
"I want to assure you, and your employers, Nigerians and
the international community that we will do everything humanly
possible to try to prevent a recurrence of what has happened,"
Obasanjo told the men.
"We've had hostage takings in the past -- they were acting
as terrorists -- but this the longest and most traumatic case
for you, your employers and even for those of us in government,"
he said, at a brief ceremony.
Following a meeting at Obasanjo's Aso Rock villa the men were
handed into the care of the energy giant Shell, for which they
work as subcontractors.
The release came as a relief to workers in Africa's largest oil
industry, which is reeling from three weeks of violent attacks
that have left 22 police and soldiers dead and cut exports by
more than eight percent.
But the militants nevertheless warned that the release of the
hostages for "humanitarian reasons" did not mark an
end to the struggle by Niger Delta's 14 million ethnic Ijaws for
control over the region's oil and gas resources.
"This release does not signify a ceasefire or softening of
our position to destroy the oil export capability of the Nigerian
government," said the group in a statement from an email
account used by the hostage takers.
"We repeat our warning to expatriates in the oil industry
as they may not be as fortunate as these four individuals. Leave
our land while you can," it said, threatening attacks to
cut oil exports by 30 percent by the end of February.
On January 11, a heavily armed group riding speedboats boarded
the Liberty Service -- an oil industry supply vessel working under
contract for the energy giant Shell -- and captured four crewmen.
Three of the hostages were employees of Tidewater, a Louisiana-based
oil services firm: the boat's 61-year-old US skipper, Patrick
Landry, and engineers Harry Ebanks, 54, from Honduras and Milko
Yordanor Nitchev, 56, from Bulgaria.
The kidnapped Briton was Nigel Watson-Clark, a former paratrooper
employed by the British company Ecodrill as a security expert.
"All of the workers will undergo medical examinations before
repatriation to their homes and families," said a statement
from Tidewater.
The kidnappers had demanded that the Nigerian government release
two prominent Ijaw leaders from jail and that Shell pay 1.5 billion
dollars (1.2 billion euros) in compensation to villages polluted
by oil spills.
Obasanjo said no deal had been struck, and added: "Some people
wanted to put undue pressure on government so that they can get
away with criminality."
Nigeria is Africa's biggest oil exporter, producing 2.6 million
barrels of crude per day, and the crisis in the delta has combined
with fears of renewed instability in the Middle East to push prices
towards historic highs.
On the same day as the hostages were taken, militants blew up
Shell's Trans-Ramos pipeline. Four days later, they stormed the
firm's Benisede oil flow station, killed 14 soldiers and two oilmen,
and burned down buildings.
Shell slashed production by 221,000 barrels per day and warned
tankers loading at its Forcados export terminal to expect delays
of up to two weeks.
Then, on January 24, gunmen wearing camouflage fatigues and armed
with AK-47 Kalashnikov assault rifles stormed an office and workshop
complex run by the Italian oil firm ENI in the southern oil city
of Port Harcourt.
The gang gunned down eight policemen and a company accountant
before escaping on speedboats with a big cash haul.
Two days ago, in an almost identical attack, gunmen scared off
police guarding the South Korean engineering company Daewoo's
oil services centre outside Port Harcourt and stole 307,000 dollars
(251,000 euros) in cash.
It is not clear if the robberies are linked to the separatists'
political struggle, but the attacks bore all the hallmarks of
Ijaw militant operations
AFP
01/30/06
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© 2006 AFP. All rights reserved
