The main militant group fighting in Nigeria’s Niger Delta region said it’s considering the release of British hostage Matthew Maguire, held since last September.
Comments by the British High Commissioner to Nigeria, Bob Dewar, noting the injustice done to the Niger Delta have “flicked on a switch of hope for an early release of the British hostage, Matthew Maguire,” the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta said in an e-mailed statement today.
Maguire was among 27 oil workers, including five foreign nationals, taken by gunmen who seized their vessel on Sept. 9 in the oil-rich Niger Delta. The militant group, also known as MEND, said it rescued the hostages from their attackers and kept two Britons to bargain for the release of their detained leader, Henry Okah.
Attacks on Nigeria’s oil industry by MEND and other armed groups have cut the country’s exports by more than 20 percent since 2006. Nigeria is Africa’s leading oil exporter and the fifth-biggest source of U.S. oil imports. MEND claims to be fighting for the poor in the oil-rich delta it says are yet to benefit from the region’s wealth.
MEND had accused the British government of backing Nigerian President Umaru Yar’Adua. Maguire’s compatriot, Robin Hughes, was freed last month on “compassionate” grounds, MEND said.