The Nigerian military on Monday rescued two Croats and one Montenegrin man who were being held by suspected ransom-seekers in Nigeria’s oil-producing Niger Delta, a state government spokesman said.
The three men working for oil services company Hydrodive were kidnapped on Feb. 19 from a bar outside their base in the city of Port Harcourt.
“They were rescued from Ogbakiri last night by a military operation,” an oil industry source said.
Rivers State Information Commissioner Magnus Abe confirmed the release, adding that it occurred at 3 a.m. on Monday.
Two Italians and one Frenchman seized by different armed groups are still in captivity in the Niger Delta, a vast wetlands which is home to Africa’s largest oil industry.
Thousands of foreign workers have fled Nigeria, the world’s eighth largest oil exporter, since an escalation in kidnappings and militant raids last year.
Militancy is fuelled by unemployment and poverty in remote villages on the delta’s mangrove-lined creeks, where Western oil companies operate multibillion-dollar production facilities.
A fifth of Nigeria’s oil output has been shut by militant attacks for more than a year.
A community leader in Ogbakiri, a waterside village a few miles outside Port Harcourt, said troops had invaded the area.
“They said they were looking for the people who kidnapped some expatriates. They were shooting and everyone ran into the bush. Some people were wounded and some arrested,” the community leader said, asking not to be named because he is being monitored by the security agencies.
“The community is innocent. They want the government to bring water, electricity and a hospital,” he added.
The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, which is holding two Italian hostages, is fighting for more regional autonomy in the delta, including control over its oil wealth.
MEND has vowed to sustain a campaign of attacks to shut down the industry and force the central government to renegotiate the terms of the delta’s union with the rest of Nigeria.
But the line between militancy, corruption and crime is blurred.
Widening militancy has spawned a surge in hostage taking and armed robberies by gangs around Port Harcourt. Hostages are normally released unharmed after the payment of a ransom.
Government officials negotiating the releases often get a big chunk of the ransom, and some analysts believe they could be encouraging the trend.
Armed groups also engage in large-scale theft of crude oil from pipelines criss-crossing the delta, often with the help of corrupt officials in government, oil companies and the military.
Industry executives estimate Nigeria loses about 100,000 barrels, worth $6 million, every day to this type of theft.