Nigeria pleas for hostages
2006-01-22 19:40
Lagos - The Nigeria media expressed grave concern on Sunday over the plight of the four foreign oil workers held hostage for 12 days by separatist militants as threats of further violence multiply.
Militants have threatened to fire rockets into Nigerian oil terminals, amid confusion over talks aimed at securing the release of four hostages: an American, a Briton, a Bulgarian and a Honduran.
President Olusegun Obasanjo's government has said it is in talks with the suspected ethnic Ijaw guerrillas who claim to be holding the hostages, but an unverified e-mail statement purportedly from the group denied this.
The Nigerian media on Sunday came out and pleaded with parties involved in the crisis to see to the quick end of the hostages' saga and a return of peace to volatile Niger Delta region.
"Help: We are in bad shape. We really are," screamed the Sunday Vanguard's front page, citing one of the hostages in a telephone call to CNN television but also reflecting Nigeria's own sense of crisis.
The Sunday Sun captioned its editorial "Growing insecurity in Niger Delta", and urged all stakeholders, including government and oil firms, "to fashion a new roadmap for securing the peace of the region on a lasting basis".
"Nigerian militants to resume oil attacks soon," warned This Day.
The National Interest was equally pessimistic, writing on its frontpage: "Militant youths to attack oil terminal."
Radio and television bulletins, which initially steered clear of the drama in order to concentrate on more familiar themes of political infighting, have now begun giving priority attention to the hostage saga.
Officials and oil industry sources told AFP that there was confusion over the true identity of the kidnappers, and that at least five groups had claimed to be in a position to release them, muddying the waters ahead of any talks.
The violence against oil companies operating in Niger Delta and the federal government has claimed more than 20 people while oil production has been slashed by 211 000 barrels a day in Nigeria, Africa's largest oil producer.
A spokesperson for Obasanjo's government, Remi Oyo, told AFP that a panel set up to find a "political solution" to the crisis had made contact with the kidnappers and had been assured of the hostages' safety.
But in an e-mail statement, the self-styled Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), denied this and threatened to step up its attacks unless two ethnic Ijaw leaders are released from prison.
On January 11, the same day as the hostages were taken, the group blew up a major oil pipeline. Four days later, armed militants overran an oil plant run by the energy giant Shell, killing two oil workers and at least five soldiers.
Following the attack, MEND claimed to have captured a large arsenal of military weapons, including rocket-propelled grenades and launchers.
The gang, in a series of e-mails to the media, has demanded the release of two jailed ethnic Ijaw leaders: Niger Delta warlord Mujahid Dokubo Asari and ousted Bayelsa State governor Diepreye Alamieyeseigha.
Some of the statements have also demanded the Anglo-Dutch energy giant Shell pay $1.5bn in compensation to Ijaw fishing communities in Bayelsa, which it says have suffered from pollution.
On Friday, the country's two main oil unions threatened to pull their members out of exposed locations to protest the deteriorating security situation.