Three ENI oil company employees held hostage in Nigeria for the past two months are pleading with the Italian government for help.
ANSA said the three men, Cosma Russo and Francesco Arena of Italy and Imad Saliba of Lebanon, issued a plea Tuesday in the Italian newspaper Il Manifesto after a reporter interviewed the men on a canoe in the Niger Delta.
The hostages said, “We are disappointed with the government which is doing nothing to get us out of here, and disappointed by our company which has left us to rot in this jungle.”
ANSA said the Nigerian rebels are demanding the release of former regional governor jailed for corruption and a Delta separatist leader being held on treason charges.
ENI said in a statement Tuesday that it is working “in close collaboration with the foreign ministry’s crisis unit” to get the men released.”