6 Filipino workers abducted in Nigeria

Six Filipino crewmembers of a cargo ship were abducted by a rebel group on Saturday in the Niger Delta, the latest in a string of kidnappings in the epicenter of Nigeria’s multibillion-dollar oil industry.

"We don’t have the identities (of the kidnapped Filipinos) but we have gotten confirmation of the kidnap incident,’’ Ed Malaya, Department of Foreign Affairs spokesman, told The Star.

Malaya said he received information from Philippine Ambassador to Nigeria Masaranga Umpa that the rebel group Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) carried out the kidnapping to demand the release of a prisoner held by the Nigerian federal government.

The MEND rebels reportedly forced the six off the German-operated cargo ship while it was sailing the Niger River delta enroute to the port town of Warri, Delta State’s capital. The hostages were reportedly being held in Warri.

"The Philippine embassy has dispatched two embassy officers to proceed to Warri which is 900 miles away (from the embassy),’’ Malaya said.

He added the DFA "is also in the process of contacting the ship owners who are based in the United Arab Emirates.’’

"We understand they are OK. (State) Governor James Ibori is already intervening on the matter,’’ a spokesman for Delta State government, Ozoene Sheddy, said.

"There were 14 crew members on board but only six were taken,’’ Sheddy said.

He said the incident happened on Saturday morning at Okerenkoko and that the vessel was a "cargo ship operated by Baco Liner company.’’

The kidnappings came three months ahead of elections which will see Nigeria’s first ever handover from one civilian administration to another.

There has been a sharp rise in oil worker kidnapping and attacks on oil installations since the beginning of 2006. Last year alone, more than 60 foreigners, mostly oil workers, were kidnapped, and dozens of Nigerians were killed by militants and bandits.

Some attacks have been perpetrated by separatist groups seeking more revenue and greater self-determination for the people of the Niger delta region, others by criminal gangs out to make ransom money.

The people of the delta complain that while their region generates 95 percent of Nigeria’s foreign currency earnings, they have little to show for this in terms of development or living standards. Nigeria used to produce 2.5 million barrels of oil per day.

In the past eight days one Italian, five Chinese and nine South Korean hostages have been freed by their respective captors.

But two Italians and one Lebanese national remained in captivity. They were abducted on Dec. 7, 2006, by MEND.

The Nigerian government, which has said it lost some 570 billion naira (around $4.4 billion) in 2006 oil revenue because of disruptions to production in the Niger delta, appears to be at a loss as to what tactic to adopt next.

In August it promised to get tough on hostage-takers, launching in the same month its first commando operation to rescue a group of hostage but killed a British man in the process. – With AFP