THE Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) has confirmed that unspecified sea pirates from Nigeria are responsible for the kidnap of two Russian sailors from Cameroun, even as it dissociates itself from the act.
MEND’s mouthpiece, Jomo Gbomo, said the group denies reports circulating in some local and international media that the two Russian sailors, Captain Boris Tersintsev and Chief Engineer Igor Shumik, abducted on May 16, in the Cameroun port city of Douala, are being held hostage by the group for a $1.5 million ransom.
Gbomo said: “MEND is aware of the pirate gang holding the two men, and their current location, but will not intervene. We can only prevail on the gang not to harm them in any way.”
According to Russian news agency, Itar-Tass, 10 Russians and six Ukrainians were onboard the ship, the ‘North Spirit’, which belonged to a Greek company and travelled under the flag of the Islands of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. It dropped anchor in the port of Cameroun’s largest city on Saturday, May 16.
Two boats with armed persons, numbering about 20 had approached the vessel from both sides. They seized the ship’s equipment and personal belongings of the crew and kidnapped the Russians. Igor Shumik has once suffered kidnap by pirates, having been a member of the crew of the infamous “Arctic Sea” cargo ship.
President of the group, Hope for Niger Delta Campaign, in The Netherlands, Sunny Ofehe, has warned that the post amnesty process might fail, unless the Federal Government begins with implementation of all the recommendations of the Ledum Mitee-led Technical Committee on the Niger Delta.
He said that that the good news filtering out of the Niger Delta lately suggested that the proper training of the ex militants would begin at the end of June. And to this end, he has suggested the government should endeavor to tie all lose knots to ensure that the process is not jeopardized and hijacked by greedy people, who would want to line their pockets with budget earmarked for the project.
Ofehe, who lauded late President Umaru Yar’Adua’s commitment to the amnesty programme, said with the political upheaval that followed the illness of the late President over, the issue of the Niger Delta and the amnesty process should not continue to be relegated to the background
Jun132010