A Nigerian militant group said on Monday it intended to keep four foreign hostages snatched last Thursday from an oil export terminal until after Christmas but will be treating them well.
The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), which says it is fighting for the people of the Niger Delta to gain control of oil revenues, seized three Italians and a Lebanese during a raid on Italian firm Agip’s Brass terminal.
“After this week we intend to sever all contact they have with the outside world until Christmas Day, when they will be permitted one call each to any member of their families,” MEND said in an email to Reuters.
“After that, they probably will not be heard of again until they’re eventually released. They will be taken care of as best we can.”
The Times of Nigeria newspaper said it had spoken by telephone on Sunday to Francesco Arena, one of the Italian hostages, who said the captives were in good health.
The newspaper quoted Arena as asking the Nigerian and Italian governments for help in securing the hostages’ release.
The MEND has kidnapped foreign oil workers several times this year. Two Americans and one Briton were kept for five weeks before being released unharmed on March 27.
The group has said it did not want money for the four hostages, but would release them only if the Nigerian government met some of its demands.
These are the release of two jailed leaders from the delta, compensation to villagers for oil spills, transfer of control of oil resources from the government to local communities, and reparation for 50 years of “enslavement” by the oil industry.
RANSOM
Kidnappings for ransom are also common in the Niger Delta and in these cases hostages are usually released unharmed after money changes hands, though one Briton and one Nigerian died this year during botched attempts by troops to release them.
The MEND has threatened further attacks in coming days. If the militants carry out their threat, they could cause embarrassment to the Nigerian government which is due to host a meeting of OPEC oil ministers in the capital Abuja on Thursday.
MEND is a faceless group that emerged in late 2005. It launched a series of attacks on oil facilities in February this year that forced the closure of over 500,000 barrels per day (bpd), or a fifth of Nigeria’s crude oil output capacity.
Since then, it has made a series of dramatic threats to halt Nigerian oil exports completely and to attack state governors in the delta, but it has not carried out these threats.
MEND says it has been recruiting and training more fighters across the vast wetlands region in preparation for a new wave of attacks.
Agip’s parent company Eni says operations at its Brass terminal, which normally exports 200,000 bpd, were unaffected by last Thursday’s attack. Output was already about 60,000 bpd below normal because of an earlier attack by gunmen on a nearby oilfield.
MEND initially said it had destroyed the terminal. But the spokesman later said in an email to Reuters the attackers had taken explosives with the intention of blowing up the tanker loading facility but had forgotten to take a detonator.
“We will return with rocket propelled grenades, explosives and ruthlessness to that location. Be sure of that,” the spokesman said.