Niger
Delta militants storm fuel tanker ship
By
Joel Olatunde Agoi
AFP
WARRI,
Nigeria
Petroleumworld.com
02 29 06
Nigerian separatist militants stormed a tanker ship working in
the Niger Delta and took a large sum of cash on Tuesday, 12 days
after they kidnapped nine foreign oil workers from another vessel.
The boarding of the kerosene tanker, which was working on the
Escravos River in an area controlled by heavily armed ethnic Ijaw
guerrilla fighters, came as Nigerian officials attempted to negotiate
the safe release of the hostages.
"The tanker was intercepted by a patrol and set on its way.
No one was hurt or kidnapped," said a spokesman for the rebel
group, in a message sent from an email address previously used
to distribute photographs of the kidnapped oilmen.
The insurgent spokesman said the tanker captain had parted with
500,000 naira as a "goodwill token" during the encounter,
although a shipping industry source put the sum at two million
naira (15,500 dollars / 13,000 euros).
"I think the ship captain has kept the rest for himself and
crew," the anonymous rebel joked, explaining the discrepancy
between the figures.
Henry Imhanlenjaye, who runs a fleet of small passenger boats
operating from the oil port of Warri, told AFP by telephone that
the attack had taken place on the Escravos River in an area controlled
by the hostage-taking gang.
The Escravos connects Warri's refinery and docks to the Atlantic
and runs past the ethnic Ijaw town of Okerenkoko, where the self-styled
Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) is believed
to be holding its hostages.
An AFP reporter who toured the Escravos by boat on Friday found
the river was patrolled by several fast war boats carrying heavily
armed militants, who presented one of the nine captive foreign
workers to journalists.
MEND seized the nine oilmen on February 18 during a series of
armed attacks on security forces and oil facilities near the energy
giant Shell's Forcados export terminal, 20 kilometres (13 miles)
south of Tuesday's incident.
The attacks forced Shell to suspend production across the western
Niger Delta, slashing output by 455,000 barrels of crude per day
and cutting exports from Africa's largest oil producer by 20 percent.
The hostages work for the Shell subcontractor Willbros, a US-owned
engineering firm.
They are Cody Oswald, Russel Spell and Macon Hawkins from the
United States; British security expert John Hudspith; Bardese
Mohammed and Aly Shady of Egypt; Tony Santos of the Philippines
and Thailand's Muado Somsak and Arak Suwana.
Hawkins will turn 69 on Wednesday and suffers from diabetes and
high blood pressure but on Friday, while surrounded by gunmen
on board and rebel war boat, he told reporters that he had received
medication and was feeling well.
Delta State's Governor James Ibori told reporters in Warri that
a panel set up by his office to negotiate for the workers was
making progress, but he backtracked form earlier assurances that
their release was imminent.
"We do not have good news for you yet. We are still hopeful.
The team that is working on this is working hard. They are credible,"
he said.
"We should reduce and shun the speculation on the release
for now and allow the committee to do its work," he added.
He said that the rebels "demanded a guarantee that there
would be no further military attacks on them and we have given
them that guarantee."
In the week prior to the kidnapping, the Nigerian military struck
targets around Okerenkoko with a ground attack helicopter, in
what they said was an operation against oil smugglers.
The rebels have been dismissive in the past about Ibori's peace
initiative, but their spokesman said Tuesday that the Thai, Egyptian
and Filipino hostages might soon be allowed to go "before
they cause a famine in our camp.
"Aside from their families, I don't think anyone is too bothered
about them," he said, in an emailed response to a question
from AFP.
AFP
02 28 06
Copyright
© 2006 AFP. All rights reserved
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