Lagos - Nigerian militants have kidnapped a Croatian worker on the troubled waterways of the Niger Delta, officials and the oil giant Shell said yesterday, amid rising tensions in Africa's biggest oil-producing region.
Fifteen Nigerian workers were also captured in Saturday's raid on a vessel operated by Seabulk, a US subcontractor to the Anglo-Dutch major, but were later released, said Shell spokesperson Harriman Oyofo.
"The sea pirates kidnapped the workers of Seabulk on Saturday at Ekeremor in Bayelsa state, but they later released 15 of them. The 'Yugoslav' is still being held. The Bayelsa state government is looking into the matter," he said.
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Bayelsa State spokesperson Oronto Douglas identified the hostage as Ivan Roso, a Croatian national working for Seabulk, a subcontractor to the Dutch shipping giant Maersk, which in turn is a supplier to Shell's operation in the region.
| The hostage as Ivan Roso, a Croatian national working for Seabulk |
Senior state officials have visited the scene of the attack and confirmed that Roso is being held by the "Iduwini Youths", a militant faction of an ethnic Ijaw clan living on the border between Bayelsa and Delta state, he said.
Bayelsa's governor Diepreye Alamieyeseigha has ordered the group to release Roso "immediately and without condition" and to meet with the traditional elders in their Amatu community to discuss their actions, Douglas said.
But he also criticised Shell, saying that the firm had stirred local resentment by failing to honour two agreements it had signed to provide community investment during the opening of the huge oilfield, identified by the letters EA.
"The decision not to meet and fulfil the 2001 and 2002 EA MOUs (memoranda of understanding) is one of the unfortunate triggers being used by these hostage takers," Douglas explained.
Oyofo would not comment on the detail of the kidnappers' demands, but said Shell "does not sign MOUs with criminals".
The attack came at a time of increasing tension in the delta, which is a Scotland-sized swathe of forest and swamp in southern Nigeria and the heartland of west Africa's multi-billion-dollar oil export industry.
Last week, Shell declared force majeure, a warning to its clients that it will be unable to honour its export contracts this month because local protests have forced it to shut down production totalling 114 000 barrels a day.
It is a region inhabited by the Ijaw, an ethnic group which is increasingly restless in the face of what local people say is the industry's indifference to the poverty and pollution blighting life in the oil-rich region.
On November 20, Nigerian soldiers based at Shell's Benisede oil flow station opened fire as Ijaw militants stormed a drilling platform.
At least 17 protesters were injured in the shooting and local leaders claim that eight more were killed.
- This article was originally published on page 2 of Cape Times on December 28, 2004
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