The three Italian and one Lebanese hostage held by an armed separatist group since December 7 in the Niger delta region of southern Nigeria are “well”, according to their captors, but no progress has been made in negotiating their release.
“There is no breakthrough as far as they are concerned. I suspect they will be with us for some time to come,” a spokesman for the group holding them, the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), told AFP by email Monday.
Italians Roberto Dieghi, Cosma Russo and Francesco Arena and the Lebanese Imad Saliba were seized December 7 when MEND attacked an oil facility operated by Italian oil company Agip at Brass in the southern state of Bayelsa.
MEND 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.
The group also wants a larger share for southern Nigerians in oil revenues, along with compensation for communities affected by oil pollution.
MEND said it is in contact with a member of the Bayelsa state government, but that no progress has been made.
“Until they come up with something reasonable, we will continue to keep the hostages. It now seems clear to everyone that our determination to keep the hostages with us indefinately is not an idle threat”, the MEND statement continued.
Nine foreigners in all — oil workers or sub-contractors –are currently being held in the delta. In addition to the four held by MEND, five Chinese workers have been held by unidentified gunmen since January 5.
Nine South Korean hostages were released on Friday.
Since the start of 2006 a variety of armed groups have intensified their attacks on oil-company and government targets in the delta. Some of the groups, such as MEND, have political demands; others are more interested in collecting ransom money.
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 due to unrest in the delta