SEAFARERS - Nigerian militants free three Filipino hostages

Nigerian militants free three Filipino hostages
05/25/2009 | 04:28 PM
(Updated 5:03 p.m.) LAGOS, Nigeria — Militants in Nigeria's southern oil delta said Monday they had destroyed major pipelines in the region and freed three Filipinos taken hostage earlier this month.

The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta said it had destroyed crude-bearing pipes run by Chevron Corp. early Monday in Delta State, where the military has launched its largest operation in years against militants.

The group said the destruction was intended to stanch the flow of oil from five so-called flow stations, which route crude oil from wells into larger pipes heading toward refineries and export terminals.

In a statement, the militants also said they had released three Filipino hostages seized earlier this month.

Officials for the military and Chevron were not immediately available for comment.

The military launched its operation in Rivers State nearly two weeks ago, after rare clashes between armed forces and the militants in the Scotland-sized region of swamps, rivers and creeks. The militants say they have killed at least 12 soldiers, and the military says it is searching for 11 troops missing in the area.

Amnesty International says hundreds of people may have been killed, including innocent bystanders to the violence. But the military has classed the entire Niger Delta region as a military zone, severely curtailing access for reporters and aid workers. A true death toll isn't known.

The militants say they are fighting to force the federal government to send more of the oil-industry funds it controls to the Niger Delta, which remains deeply impoverished despite five decades of oil production. But criminality and militancy are closely linked, with many leaders of the militant groups growing rich by stealing oil from pipelines and selling it overseas.

An upsurge in violence that began in early 2006 has seen hundreds of foreign workers kidnapped and dozens of attacks on crucial oil infrastructure. Hostages are normally released unharmed although several have died during botched snatch or rescue attempts, including two other Filipino hostages killed as violence flared this month.

Militant activities have trimmed Nigeria's daily oil output by about 25 percent off pre-2006 heights, with Africa's oil giant producing about 1.6 million barrels per day now. The government says no more production has been lost in the recent spate of violence. - AP


More Filipino hostages rescued in Nigerian Delta

Reuters | 05/24/2009 11:22 PM
WARRI, Nigeria - Nigerian security forces said they had freed three more Filipino hostages in the oil-producing Niger Delta on Saturday and vowed to press on with an offensive that has forced hundreds of villagers to flee.

Helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft were being used to survey the creeks and guide ground troops to try to flush out militants from remote communities around the port of Warri, military spokesman Colonel Rabe Abubakar said.

"We were able to rescue three Filipinos today," he said. "People should not be panicked when they see helicopters or planes. Innocent people should not fear. We are targeting the militants, not them."

He said the three Filipino hostages freed on Saturday were among more than a dozen seized 10 days ago from an oil vessel in Chanomi Creek near Warri. Nine other Filipinos and four Nigerians had already been freed.

The military began its biggest offensive for years just over a week ago, bombarding militant camps around Warri from the air and sea before sending three battalions of soldiers to hunt down rebels believed to have fled into surrounding communities.

Foreign oil firms have evacuated non-essential staff from the western delta, home to part of Africa's biggest oil industry, but production has continued largely unaffected and global oil markets have shrugged off the unrest.

Militant groups say they are fighting for a fairer share of the oil wealth for local people in the delta, still mired in poverty despite five decades of oil extraction.

The armed gangs have also grown rich from the large-scale theft of crude oil, worth millions of dollars a day, and the line between militancy and criminality is blurred.

Major-General Sakin-Yaki Bello, commander of the joint military task force in the Niger Delta, has said he ordered a "pinpoint helicopter attack" on the home of militant leader Government Tompolo in the village of Oporoza on May 15.

The military says aircraft have only been used for surveillance since then.

Hiding in the bush

Local authorities handed out basic goods including rice, groundnut oil and soap to hundreds of people, mostly women and children, on the outskirts of Warri on Saturday who said they fled from Oporoza and surrounding communities in recent days.

"We were in Oporoza when the plane started dropping bombs. Everyone ran into the bush," Doreen Aborowa, in her early 20s, told Reuters in local government offices in Ogbe-Ijoh on the edge of Warri, where the displaced were being cared for.

"We slept in the bush for three days before somebody from the village came with a canoe to start taking us away," she said, explaining that the men had stayed behind for fear they would be arrested by the army if found travelling the waterways.

Abubakar said 11 soldiers from the delta task force were missing and the "cordon-and-search" operation would continue until they were found.

Some leaders from the Ijaw ethnic group, the largest in the Niger Delta, have accused the military of a targeted ethnic campaign and say innocent civilians have been killed in the villages of the Gbaramatu Kingdom around Oporoza.

Chief Godspower Gbenekama, a traditional Gbaramatu Kingdom leader, said three communities -- Venikrukru, Daubiriye and Egonoebizor -- were attacked by the army on Saturday.

"I am told the oldest man in Gbaramatu Kingdom, who could not run, was killed in the operation as well as a woman and two children," he said.

Abubakar said he was not aware of any such attack on Saturday.
as of 05/24/2009 11:22 PM