Nigerian militants may release Roberto Dieghi, one of three Italian oil workers they took hostage last month, a spokesman for the group holding them told AFP.
“Roberto may be released today (Wednesday),” the spokesman of the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) said in an e-mail message, adding: “It is more in response to our negotiations than on account of his poor health”.
Earlier this month MEND said that it was concerned about Dieghi’s health but then said he was making a good recovery.
“Regarding this set of hostages, they were held to be exchanged for those of ours in Nigerian government hands. This is what we hope to get for the release of the hostages. Anytime tonight, we will release Roberto to the custody of Dr. Igali of the Bayelsa State government,” MEND said in a follow-up mail.
“Negotiations are still on going and there is no talk of the other three (hostages),” the group added.
Igali is the third highest-ranking official in the Bayelsa State government.
Questioned as to whether the “negotiations” involved money, the MEND spokesman wrote: “I can recall telling you that we are not in this for money.” Dieghi, two other Italians and a Lebanese national, all workers for Italian oil firm Agip, were seized by MEND on December 7 from one of the company’s facilities in the southern state of Bayelsa.
The group is demanding the release of former Bayelsa State governor Diepreye Alamieyeseigha, jailed on corruption charges, as well as separatist leader Mujahid Dokubo-Asari and other detainees from the region.
The group also wants a larger share for southern Nigerians in oil revenues, along with compensation for communities affected by oil pollution.
Some 37 Nigerian troops and dozens of Nigerian oil workers were killed by the militants last year while more than 60 foreigners, mostly oil workers, were kidnapped.
Nigeria, Africa’s largest oil producer, which derives more than 95 percent of its foreign exchange earnings from oil, lost more than half a million barrels a day last year to unrest in the delta region.