'Hostages are not treated well'
2006-02-18 20:46
Lagos - Nine foreign oil workers, kidnapped in the Niger Delta on Saturday, will not be "well treated", according to the kidnappers.
An e-mail from the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, an ethnic Ijaw militia which kidnapped the nine, said: "We are learning with time and experience.
"I cannot say for how long we will keep these hostages or any motivating factor for their release except for the meeting of our conditions. These hostages will not be treated as well as the previous ones."
The group has demanded Shell pay $1.5-bn (R10,5-bn) in compensation to polluted Ijaw fishing communities.
It has also demanded the Nigerian government release two prominent Ijaws - separatist Mujahid Dokubo Asari and the former governor of Bayelsa state, Diepreye Alamieyeseigha, who is on trial for corruption.
The group said the trigger for Saturday's hostage taking and attacks on oil facilities was two air strikes, carried out this week by the Nigerian military in the delta.
The group said the oil workers could not expect an easy ride, because of the "anger amongst our units resulting from the killing of civilians in the attacks on Ijaw communities and the perception that Shell is facilitating the attacks."
The kidnappers identified the captives as three Americans, a Briton, two Egyptians, a Filipino and two Thais.