Nigeria: Two oil workers freed

2006-08-15 10:05

Brussels - A Belgian and a Moroccan working in Nigeria's oil sector were released on Monday after being held for more than a week, said reports.

The reports quoted an official from their employer, Dredging International, as saying that the two men were in good health despite difficult living conditions since their kidnap in the oil-rich Niger Delta region and no ransom was paid for their release.

No one was available for comment at the company's Belgian offices.

The release of the two men, who were to head to Belgium on Wednesday for medical tests, came as armed men kidnapped four more foreign oil workers in Nigeria's southern oil city of Port Harcourt in the latest of a series of incidents in the volatile Niger Delta.

35 oil workers kidnapped

However, three Filipinos abducted more than 10 days ago were also released on Monday.

Since the beginning of the year, separatist militants had stepped up their campaign for greater benefits from the oil proceeds for local communities and in protest against environmental devastation.

Since then, more than 35 expatriate oil workers had been abducted although all were released after spending days or weeks in captivity.

Nigeria, a nation of 130 million people, was the world's sixth biggest crude exporter with a daily output of 2.6 million barrels, a quarter of which was lost to unrest.

The militants had launched damaging attacks since January on oil installations in the region.

- AFP