A Nigerian armed group fighting for control of oil resources in the Niger Delta region said on Monday that it will release all foreign hostages in its custody.
The statement, purportedly from the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (Mend), gave the names of ten captives it said it planned to release later in the day to two powerful local leaders.
The statement was signed by Godswill Tamuno and Alaebi Oyinye.
Tamuno’s group calls itself Mend. Some industry sources say it is a splinter group from the well-known Mend proper whilst others say it is part of the Federated Niger Delta Ijaw Communities (FNDIC).
Both groups are ethnic Ijaw guerrilla organisations battling for regional control of southern Nigeria’s vast oil resources, and both have sometimes resorted to kidnapping foreign oil workers.
The group said it is seeking the immediate and unconditional release of two Ijaw leaders: separatist firebrand Mujahid Asari Dokubo and former Bayelsa state governor Diepreye Alamieyeseigha.
It said it was releasing the men for humanitarian reasons but vowed “further hostilities in the region” if “the new government of Umaru Yar’Adua reneges like his predecessor” on its promises to the armed groups of the region.
President Yar’Adua became president last month after an election marred by accusations of widespread fraud and violence.
The kidnappers also said oil company Shell “should immediately pay the aborigines of Bayelsa State $1,5-billion as compensation for environmental degradation and pollutions”.
And it further demanded “the immediate and unconditional demilitarisation of Ijaw Land and the Niger Delta territory”.
Industry sources said Tamuno is one of the commanders who was holding 24 Filipino seamen hostage earlier this year.
There was no immediate confirmation of any impending release from security sources. Bayelsa police chief Julian Okpaleke said he would be available for comment in the evening.
“Nothing like that has happened yet,” said Rivers State police chief Felix Ogbaudu. — AFP