This picture showing three hostages — two Italians and one Lebanese — who were kidnapped from an oil export terminal operated by Italian oil company Eni in southern Nigeria on December 7, 2006 was sent in an email by militant group Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) to the media January 24, 2007.
There are now 29 foreign workers being held hostage in Nigeria’s oil-producing delta including these three men. MEND has demanded the release of two leaders from the Niger Delta, compensation for decades of oil pollution to delta villages and regional control over the delta’s oil wealth. The names provided are L to R: Amad Saliba, Franco Arena and Damiano Russo.