Masked Nigerian militants armed with machine guns displayed 24 Filipino hostages in a patch of jungle in the remote creeks of the oil-producing Niger Delta and threatened new attacks.
The Filipino seamen were kidnapped on January 20 from a German-operated cargo ship on a river in the western delta by gunmen demanding the release of Mujahid Dokubo-Asari, a militia leader jailed since September 2005 who is facing trial for treason.
Dozens of militants, dressed all in black and with their heads covered in black balaclavas, brought the hostages on Wednesday to a hamlet of a few wood and straw huts, reachable only by boat through a maze of creeks.
The hostages, wearing blue, white or orange work overalls, appeared tired but in good health. They sat on white plastic chairs while the militants stood behind them, posing for the cameras armed with rocket launchers and machine guns.
”The boys have been taking good care of us but we need clean water,” said Ruben Roble, who said he was the captain of the cargo ship that was attacked. He said the water they were being given to drink was not safe.
Roble denied reports that seven of the hostages were ill.
The abduction of the Filipinos was just one of a series of attacks in the delta, where violence surged in 2006 and has worsened since the start of 2007. A total of 38 foreigners are being held captive in the delta by separate armed groups.
Poverty, a complete collapse of public services caused by rampant corruption among government officials and a breakdown in law and order have contributed to the spiralling violence.
Many residents of the delta resent the oil industry, which has yielded huge revenues for corrupt Nigerian governments and for foreign companies but polluted their environment.
Field commander
”If the government doesn’t listen to us, in 72 hours things will start happening,” said Tamuno Goodwill, a masked militant who described himself as a field commander of the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (Mend).
He said he was referring to attacks on oil facilities and the security forces guarding them.
Royal Dutch Shell is the biggest producer in the area but its operations in the western delta have been shut down for a year following a string of Mend attacks last February. Shell is losing 500 000 barrels per day in output.
”We are going to drag the president into a civil war,” said Goodwill, who did not reveal where the militants were keeping their Filipino captives.
Violence has caused thousands of foreigners to flee the delta in the past 12 months and forced the closure of a fifth of oil-production capacity from Nigeria, the world’s eighth-biggest exporter.
Goodwill said his group were Mend fighters, although that is disputed by Jomo Gbomo, the person who has spoken for the faceless militant group since it first surfaced in December 2005.
Gbomo has said Mend was not involved in the attack on the cargo ship. It is impossible to obtain independent confirmation of these details as Mend has never offered details of its structure and leadership.
Gbomo says the group is fighting for the impoverished people of the delta to gain control of the region’s oil wealth. He has also demanded the release of Asari, although he says Asari is not particularly important to the struggle. — Reuters