Nigeria Militants Release South African Hostages in Niger Delta
You are in good hands with MEND!
By Karl Maier
Sept. 19 (Bloomberg) -- Nigerian militants in the Niger River delta said they released two South Africans abducted by kidnappers last week.
The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, or MEND, said it handed over the two to government secret service agents at 11:00 p.m. yesterday and expected them to be presented to South African government officials in Port Harcourt.
Their release was announced by Jomo Gbomo, the MEND spokesman, in an e-mailed statement.
The South Africans were taken hostage on Sept. 9 along with three other international oil workers, including two Britons and one Ukrainian, when their vessel was captured by unknown gunmen.
MEND said on Sept. 15 it freed the hostages from what it described as pirates. It said it would release the South Africans after an appeal by the wife of Henry Okah, the militant leader who used to live in South Africa and now faces trial for treason in Nigeria.
The militants last month freed two German hostages employed by a local unit of the Mannheim-based construction company Bilfinger Berger AG, after they were abducted by kidnappers.
MEND says it is fighting on behalf of the inhabitants of the Niger Delta, who have yet to share in the oil wealth of the region. Attacks by armed groups in the region have cut more than 20 percent of Nigeria's crude exports since 2006.