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Militants in Nigeria unrelenting in their attack on oil workers, kidnap four more
By Joel Olatunde Agoi
AFP
LAGOS
Petroleumworld.com 08 10 06Militants in Nigeria's southern oil-rich Niger Delta region have kidnapped two Norwegians and two Ukrainians, adding them to a growing list of victims in an unrelenting series of attacks on foreign oil workers.
The two Norwegians and two Ukrainians were working on an oil supply vessel in Nigeria when they were kidnapped, the Norwegian government and the ship operators said.
With this latest kidnap, there are now at least eight foreign oil workers held hostage by militants in several places in the volatile region in the past week.
The ambassador of Norway in Nigeria, Tore Nedreboe, told Norwegian radio, that he hoped that that the saga of the latest kidnappings would come to a happy ending "within 24 hours."
"Contacts have been established with the local community in Niger Delta responsible for the kidnap...it seems that an accord is in sight," he told the radio.
The latest four oil workers were kidnapped late Tuesday while they were on a Norwegian offshore supply vessel," operated by Trico Supply, foreign ministry spokesman Frode Andersen told AFP.
"This spate of kidnappings is outrageous and ridiculous. These brigands just kidnap at will for ransome or for play. This is not good for Nigeria's image," a senior government official, who demanded anonymity, told AFP.
US-owned Trico Supply confirmed the abductions, the latest in a series of foreign oil workers in Nigeria, and said no ransom demand had been made.
A senior executive with a major oil group in Nigeria, who demanded anonymity, confirmed the incident but said he could not give any details.
"We learnt some Europeans aboard a foreign oil vessel have been kidnapped. The information is still sketchy," he told AFP here.
Nigerian security agents said they were still verifying the abductions while navy spokesman Obiora Medani told AFP: "There is no such report yet. But we shall find out."
The latest kidnapping comes barely a week after four other oil workers -- a German and three Filipinos -- were taken prisoner by militants in the troubled region.
The whereabouts of the men were still unknown Wednesday after spending between five and six days in capitivity.
Last Thursday, a German employee of oil service firm Bilfinger and Berger was kidnapped along with his driver in the southern oil city of Port Harcourt, while three Filipinos working on a multi-billion-dollar liquefied gas project were abducted the following day at nearby Bonny Island, near Port Harcourt.
A previously unknown Movement for the Niger Delta People (MONDP) claimed responsibility for kidnapping the German, identified as Didone Shephard.
MONDP said he would be freed if two Niger Delta leaders, former Bayelsa State governor Diepreye Alamieyeseigha and regional warlord Mujahid Dokubo-Asari who are standing trial for corruption and treason felony in Abuja, were released.
No group has claimed to be holding the Filipinos, employed by Baker Overseas Technology Services, a contractor of Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG).
Since January, militants have launched violent attacks on oil facilities and personnel in the region to press demands for local control of Nigeria's multi-billion-dollar oil and gas wealth.
More than 30 expatriate oil workers have been kidnapped in the past seven months and were released after spending days or sometimes weeks in captivity.
Nigeria is Africa's biggest oil producer, accounting for a daily output of 2.6 million barrels, but 25 percent of that figure has been lost to unrest since the beginning of the year.
AFP 09 1647 GMT 08 06
Copyright ©2006 AFP. All Rights Reserved.
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