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« 3rd Term Plot Not Over Yet - Soyinka | Main | Overheating polity: Presidency takes swipe against media »

June 03, 2006

Nigeria head joins kidnap efforts

Nigeria's president has joined mediation efforts to try to secure the release of eight foreign workers abducted from an oil rig on Friday.
A spokeswoman for Olusegun Obasanjo said he was optimistic the men would be freed quickly and unharmed.

Six Britons, a Canadian and a US national were seized by armed men from an offshore rig in southern Nigeria.

There has been a spate of recent attacks in the region by militants, who want more local control of oil wealth.

'Local dispute'

The BBC's Alex Last in Lagos says it is not clear who is holding the men but the company that owns the rig says it has made contact with the hostages and they are believed to be in good health.

The rig, 20km (12miles) out to sea, had sent out a distress call on Friday, saying it was under attack from between 20 and 30 men in speedboats.

The attackers in four boats fired shots into the air before boarding the rig, security sources said.

There were 84 oil workers on the rig when it was attacked, said a spokeswoman for Aberdeen-based Dolphin Drilling, which operates the rig.

The Nigerian government said the kidnapping appeared to be the result of a local dispute.

In the Niger Delta that usually means a community feels it has not been sufficiently compensated by oil companies and in those cases often a cash payment resolves the issue, our correspondent says.

An upsurge of attacks on foreign oil interests has cut Nigeria's oil production by 25% - a key factor in the high world price of crude oil.

The Niger Delta is home to Nigeria's oil industry, but there is widespread poverty and numerous armed militia groups operate in the area.

One group, the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (Mend), says it is fighting for greater local control of the oil revenues and compensation from oil companies for pollution in the Delta.

In recent months, Mend has twice taken foreigners hostage in a series of raids. In both cases the men were eventually released unharmed.

However, the group has sent an email to media organisations saying it was not involved in Friday's kidnappings.

In April, Mend rejected President Obasanjo's offer of thousands more jobs and a new motorway for the area, saying it did not address its demands for more local control of oil wealth and demilitarisation.


Posted by Publisher at June 3, 2006 10:08 AM

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