Militants kidnapped nine South Korean oil workers and one local worker in southern Nigeria in the latest in a string of attacks on foreign oil installations, officials said on Wednesday.
The militants stormed a Daewoo oil platform in Bayelsa state that was being guarded by about 50 soldiers during the night and took the men hostage, Welson Ekiyor, a spokesperson for the state governor, told Agence France-Presse.
”The nine Korean workers were taken by the kidnappers from a Daewoo oil facility on the outskirts of Yenagoa, the capital of Bayelsa,” Ekiyor added.
More than 60 foreign oil workers have been abducted in Africa’s largest oil producer over the past year and dozens of Nigerian workers have been killed.
The gang behind the latest attack has not been identified but the spokesperson said: ”This is one abduction too many. We as a government will do everything humanly possible to secure the release of the men and put a stop to the criminal activities of the militants.”
The commander of the Joint Task Force (JTF), protecting oil installations in the volatile Niger delta region, Brigadier-general Alfred Ilogho, confirmed the attack and vowed to track down the kidnappers.
A Daewoo spokesperson in Seoul also confirmed the abduction.
The employees of Daewoo Engineering and Construction were seized at 4.50am Nigerian time, the company said.
The spokesperson said the company had set up an emergency taskforce to secure the release of the workers who were constructing pipelines. ”We have yet to locate them and find exactly who the kidnappers are.”
No group claimed responsibility for the attack, the latest to hit oil-rich Nigeria in the past one year.
Niger Delta militants are still holding five Chinese nationals abducted last Friday and three Italians and one Lebanese taken hostage since December 7.
The abduction of the Chinese was the first attack this year.
The best known and most vocal of the armed separatist groups in the region, the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (Mend), has said it had nothing to do with the kidnapping of the Chinese.
However, Mend, which has claimed responsibility for the abduction of the Italian and Lebanese oil workers, on Sunday threatened to step up its attacks on oil installations unless its demands were met.
The group 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.
About 37 Nigerian troops and dozens of Nigerian oil workers were killed by the militants last year while more than 60 foreigners, mostly oil workers, were kidnapped.
Nigeria, Africa’s largest oil producer, which derives more than 95% of its foreign exchange earnings from oil, lost more than half a million barrels a day last year due to unrest.
According to the country’s Finance Minister Nenadi Usman, 570-billion naira (around $4,4-billion) in revenue was lost to unrest last year.
”Early in the second quarter of 2006, there was a loss of production of 600 000 barrels per day from the joint venture operations,” Usman said this week.
”The loss was due principally to social disruptions in the Niger Delta which continued until the end of fiscal year 2006,” she added. – AFP
