Four hostages seized last week from a Nigerian oil-export terminal run by Eni SpA (E) subsidiary Agip may be held for several months, a spokesman for the militant group that has claimed responsibility for the kidnappings said Tuesday.
“None of the hostages will be released. There is no thought of that,” Jomo Gbomo, a spokesman for the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, or MEND, said in an e-mail to Dow Jones Newswires.
“It will not happen today, next week or even the week after. If I may hazard a guess, I will think they will be with us for several months at the least,” the spokesman added. Gbomo is a nom de guerre; the spokesman hasn’t divulged his real name.
Last week, MEND said the hostages would be exchanged only if some of the group’s long-standing demands were met. The militants launched a wave of kidnappings and attacks on oil pipelines earlier this year.
Eni said last week three of the hostages are Italian oil workers, while the fourth is a Lebanese employee of a catering company. It added another Lebanese was injured in the attack at the export terminal.
The militants have said for nearly a year that their key aims are winning the release of the southern delta region’s two most prominent leaders, Mujahid Dokubo-Asari and former Gov. Diepreye Alamieyeseigha.
Dokubo-Asari, who waged a struggle for autonomy for 8 million Ijaws who have dominated the Niger Delta for years, was jailed on treason charges in September 2005. Alamieyeseigha was arrested shortly afterwards in Nigeria after fleeing the U.K. on money laundering charges.
The militants have also demanded Royal Dutch Shell PLC (RDSB.LN) pay compensation of about $1.5 billion to local communities for alleged environmental pollution, allegations Shell has rejected.
All three demands were reiterated in the e-mail sent to reporters just before midnight Thursday, hours after the hostages were seized from the Agip terminal in the town of Brass that exports some 200,000 barrels of oil daily. Eni, Italy’s largest oil and gas company, said last week it was in contact with Italy’s Foreign Affairs Ministry, as well as Nigerian authorities to seek a positive outcome to the matter.
A series of attacks have plagued the Nigeria’s volatile Niger Delta, in which foreign oil workers have been abducted and facilities damaged. Most of the workers have subsequently been freed following the payment of a ransom by their companies.
A U.K. citizen was killed Nov. 22 when Nigerian armed forces attempted to rescue seven foreign oil workers taken hostage. Gunmen had seized the seven workers overnight from an Eni-controlled oil-supply vessel off the coast of southern Nigeria.
Dec122006