No word: from Mend
Mend fails to release captives
Rebels in Nigeria's troubled oil-producing Niger Delta who had promised to release six foreign hostages yesterday have yet to do so and have not given any explanation for the delay.
Fighters from the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (Mend) seized the four Italians, one American and one Croat on 1 May from an offshore installation operated by Chevron.
They said at the time they wanted to embarrass outgoing president Olusegun Obasanjo before he stepped down on 29 May. Umaru Yar'Adua was sworn in as the new president of Africa's top oil exporter that day.
A Mend spokesman, who uses the pseudonym Jomo Gbomo, said in a series of emails to reuters yesterday that the group still planned to release its six captives, but this morning the news agency said there was no news of them and no word from Gbomo.
The last time Gbomo was coordinating a release of foreign hostages, it was delayed for about two days because of the logistical problems associated with extracting the foreigners from the mangrove-lined creeks of the anarchic delta.
Mend, which emerged in late 2005, was responsible for a series of attacks on oil production facilities that have cut Nigerian output by over a quarter. The supply disruptions in the world's eighth-biggest exporter have pushed up world oil prices.
Mend demands regional control over oil revenues, compensation from companies for oil spills and freedom for a politician and a militant leader from the region who are both in detention in the capital Abuja.
But the militant movement in the Niger Delta has splintered and Mend has gone public with disagreements it has with other armed groups who have seized hostages.
This week, Gbomo has accused kidnappers who seized four Americans from a Chevron barge of acting on behalf of crooked politicians. The four were released last night.
Gbomo has also hinted that his fighters were involved in a gunbattle with other militia men earlier this week in which a prominent gang leader was killed. He said in an email to Reuters the militia men were criminals who were undermining the cause.
Such rivalries between armed groups further complicate an already intractable situation in the delta, where violence is rooted in decades of neglect by corrupt government officials, Reuters said.
Some attacks and kidnappings are to press demands such as greater access to oil wealth by those who live near the oilwells, but most of the violence is motivated by money.
Ransom-seekers make big profits from kidnapping expatriates, smugglers get rich in a dangerous trade in stolen crude, while politicians pay and arm youths to maintain their grip on power.