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Niger Delta militants vow retaliation for escape of Lebanese hostage
By Ade Obisesan
AFP
LAGOS
Petroleumworld.com 02 23 06A militant group in Nigeria's oil-rich Niger Delta said Thursday that a Lebanese hostage it reportedly freed had in fact escaped, and threatened retaliation against the Italian oil firm he worked for.
"It was an escape hatched by (oil firm) Agip and the Bayelsa State government," a spokesman for the Movement for the Emancipation of Niger Delta (MEND), said in an e-mail message to AFP.
"We confirm the escape of the Lebanese hostage Imad Saliba from our custody. Our response to Agip and the oil industry will follow shortly," MEND warned in a separate statement.
"Agip and the Bayelsa State government will pay a hefty price for this slight," the armed group added.
Saliba was abducted, along with three Italian Agip workers, on December 7.
The Lebanese embassy in Abuja announced Wednesday that he had been freed and was "safe and well" after undergoing a medical check-up.
MEND said the men guarding Saliba had been bribed to allow his escape.
Two of the Italians abducted with Saliba are still being held by MEND. The third was freed on January 18 because of health problems.
Bayelsa State government spokesman Ekiyor Welson said he was not officially aware of the release of the Lebanese hostage.
"I have sought confirmation from several government sources, including the secretary to the Bayelsa State government on the issue. Nobody seems to have any confirmation on the reported release," he told AFP by telephone.
MEND is the most high-profile among a number of groups operating in the Niger Delta who are seeking to highlight alleged imbalances in the distribution of oil wealth in the region.
Since the start of the year, 55 foreigners have been kidnapped by separatist groups and armed gangs in southern Nigeria, almost as many as for the whole of 2006.
MEND said that following Saliba's escape it had halted all talks on the release of its other prisoners "and will hold them without question until May 2007 at the least."
Industry watchers said that MEND's reaction could be seizure of more oil workers, especially Italians, or attacks on their installations and residences.
The group has also demanded the release of a former governor of Bayelsa State, Dieprepe Alamieyeseigha, currently in prison for corruption, as well as separatist leader Mujahid Dokubo-Asari, who is facing charges of treason.
The latest foreigners reported kidnapped were two Croatian seamen and a Montenegrin worker abducted on Sunday.
Nigeria, Africa's largest oil producer, has lost around half a million barrels of crude to unrest in the region.
AFP 22 1644 GMT 02 07
Copyright© 1999 AFP. All Rights Reserved.
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