Nigeria seeks news on hostages
2006-01-23 14:34
Lagos - Nigerian officials were anxiously awaiting a response on Monday after sending local leaders to meet an armed gang that kidnapped four foreign oilmen and threatened to attack export terminals.
The crisis in Nigeria's oil industry has combined with tensions over Iran's nuclear programme to boost crude oil prices, which briefly hit a peak of $69.20 on Monday, not far short of the historic $70 per barrel mark.
A spokesperson for the Bayelsa State government, Ekiyor Welson, said state and federal officials on Sunday met elders and village leaders from the restive region of the Niger Delta where they believe the hostages are being held.
"What we have now is community and youth leaders negotiating with the boys. From the signals we are getting, there is something positive happening. By the end of this week, things will be positively resolved," he said.
Welson said the local figures met the kidnappers in a swampland area of neighbouring Delta State and would report back later on Monday, although he accepted he made a similar claim one week ago.
An American, a Briton, a Bulgarian and a Honduran were seized on January 11 from an oil industry supply vessel operating off the Niger Delta coast in a field operated by the Anglo-Dutch energy giant Shell.
The group then blew up a major pipeline and attacked a Shell oil plant in the delta swamps, killing 14 soldiers and two oil workers.
Since the start of the crisis, oil production has been cut by 211 000 barrels per day, eight percent of Nigeria's output, and the militants have threatened further attacks if their demands are not met.
In a series of unauthenticated e-mail messages to the media, the group demanded the release of two ethnic Ijaw champions; separatist guerrilla leader Mujahid Dokubo Asari and ousted Bayelsa governor Diepreye Alamieyeseigha.
The militants have also demanded Shell pay $1.5bn (€1.2bn) compensation to Ijaw fishing communities, which they say have been ruined by five decades of oil industry pollution.
On Monday, an e-mail to AFP from a spokesperson claiming to represent the kidnappers said that the four oilmen were relatively healthy but that they would remain hostages until the group's demands were met.