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Italians urged to leave Nigeria oil zone
AFP
ROME
Petroleumworld.com 02 26 06Italian authorities called Friday on Italians working in Nigeria's oil zone to leave after two technicians were abducted, ANSA news agency reported.
Italians Lucio Moro and Luciano Passarin were abducted after gunmen stormed into the offices of the construction firm Impregilo, some 40 kilometers (25 miles) from the southern Nigerian oil capital of Port Harcourt.
ANSA said the Italian foreign ministry had urged "Italian companies operating in the Niger Delta to withdraw all expatriate staff."
Armed militants also stepped up violent attacks on foreigners Friday, killing a Lebanese man as well as seizing the two Italians, police and industry sources said.Three other Italians escaped, according to the ANSA news agency, but the foreign ministry could not confirm this immediately.
None of the main militant groups claimed responsibility for Friday's incidents, but the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) has warned that it could retaliate against Italy's Agip oil company and the Bayelsa State government after a Lebanese it had taken hostage escaped.
"Agip and the Bayelsa State government will pay a hefty price for this slight," the armed group threatened in an email message sent to AFP.
Two Italian workers for Agip abducted on December 7 with the Lebanese, Imad Saliba, are still being held by the MEND. A third Italian was freed on January 18 because of health problems, but the movement has laid down political terms for further releases.
Italy's deputy foreign minister, Franco Danieli, said on Sky TG24 television that "there are too many Italians in the Niger delta", putting the figure at 627 expatriate workers with 24 companies.
He recalled that two were still in the hands of the MEND, and stated that no demands regarding the other hostages had been received from whoever was holding them.
"Security conditions are so bad that it's better to operate there without foreign personnel," the foreign ministry said, according to ANSA.
AFP 23 1826 GMT 02 07
Copyright© 1999 AFP. All Rights Reserved.
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