Nigerian militants holding nine foreign oil workers hostage threatened on Wednesday to take more Western captives from cities in the southern Niger Delta and warned of more attacks on the oil industry.
The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, whose attacks have already cut Nigerian oil exports by a fifth, said in an email that they had no plans to release the nine men, who were snatched from a barge run by U.S. oil services company Willbros on Saturday.
“To heap further embarrassment on the Nigerian government, we will pick expatriates from cities in the Niger Delta. It is assumed our capabilities are limited to the creeks,” said the movement in an email.
The militants have so far struck oil pipelines and platforms located deep in the remote swamps and creeks of the vast wetlands region, cutting exports by 455,000 barrels per day.
“We do not have need for hostages, but took these to demonstrate the ease with which we can strike,” they said.
The militants have demanded the release of two ethnic Ijaw leaders — a former governor on trial for money laundering and a militia leader facing treason charges — and more local control over the region’s huge oil wealth.
The Ijaw are the dominant tribe in the delta, which pumps all of the OPEC member’s 2.4 million barrels a day of oil.
PROGRESSING WELL
Delta State Governor James Ibori said earlier that negotiations were progressing very well and that militants were delaying the release of the hostages only because they were not confident that the military would not attack Ijaw villages again, after bombing several communities last week.
“The man resides in a dream world,” the militants said.
“We have killed and realize that we will lose our own. He’s trying to buy time. He is not getting these people,” they said, adding that they had not decided what to do with the hostages.
Royal Dutch Shell shut down all its production in the western side of the delta, equivalent to one fifth of supplies from the world’s eighth-largest exporter, after the militants blew up their main loading platform on the western side of the delta, and sabotaged three pipelines.
“More attacks will follow at places and times of our choosing,” the militants said.
Ibori said normalcy was returning to the state with waterways reopening and the main Warri airport, which was shut by militant threats of rocket attacks, partially reopened. Ibori said he had assured Shell, which evacuated hundreds of workers from the region, that it could send its workers back into the creeks to assess damage to oil facilities.
However, there was no indication that Shell was ready to do so. It has previously said it wants to see a significant improvement in security before returning.