24 kidnapped Filipino seamen in Nigeria freed
All 24 Filipino oil workers taken hostage by Niger Delta rebels have been released.
“They have been released to the secretary to the state government, Ovie Omo-Agege,” Agence France-Presse quoted government spokesman, Sheddy Ozoene, as saying.
CNN quoted the men’s employer, German shipping firm Baco Liner, as saying the freed hostages were on board their vessel.
“All 24 hostages are on board our vessel, Baco Liner 2, and they’re on their way to Warri now where they will be handed over directly to our agent,” said a CNN website report quoting a company spokesman.
Warri is the main city in the western delta.
The kidnapping was covered widely in the international press, with CNN broadcasting a footage of the hostages with a group it said was the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND). “The hostages, held in captivity since their cargo ship was seized January 20, sat on white plastic chairs, lined up in a row, not knowing if they would live or die,” CNN reporter Jeff Koinange said.
February 2007
Backgrounder to the abduction of 24 Filipino seamen in Nigeria
24 Filipino seamen abducted in Nigeria
24 Filipino seafarers were seized by a militant group operating in an oil-rich region in Nigeria.
According to the Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs, of the 24 Filipinos, 17 were dragged to a village in Warri in Nigeria’s Delta State, while the other seven were held as hostages aboard their German-owned cargo ship Bako Liner II.
The “all-Filipino” captives included the captain. Their predicament marked the first time their shipping company, Baco Liner GmbH, was attacked by Nigerian militants in its 30 years of plying the route.
The incident, which the DFA said was the fifth time Filipino workers were kidnapped in the area since last year, prompted President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to suspend labor deployment to Nigeria.
The abductors are members of the so-called Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND). MEND has reportedly demanded the release of two prisoners charged with treason in exchange for the Filipinos’ freedom.
Agence France Presse reported that unidentified militants also kidnapped an American and a Briton in Nigeria’s oil capital Port Harcourt and they were taken to an unknown location.
There has been a sharp rise in the number of kidnappings and attacks on oil installations in the Niger delta since the beginning of last year.
In addition to the Filipinos, two Italians and a Lebanese are also being held as hostages. Only in mid-January 2007, one Italian, five Chinese and nine South Korean hostages had been freed by their respective captors.
In 2006, more than 60 foreigners, mostly oil workers, were kidnapped, and dozens of Nigerians were killed by militants and bandits.
The DFA earlier said that prior to the abduction of the 24, seven Filipinos working in Nigeria had been taken in four different incidents and eventually released. The recent abduction is the fifth incident involving Filipinos since 2006.
In a report from the Nigeria capital of Abuja, Agence France Presse reported that the government of President Olusegun Obasanjo was seeking to reassure the Philippines that it was doing everything in its power to release the Filipinos. The German Embassy in Nigeria has joined diplomatic efforts to secure the sailors’ release.
DFA spokesperson Ed Malaya told AFP that Nigeria was one of the biggest employers of Filipino workers in Africa, with some 3,900 Filipinos employed at the end of 2006.
Sources: AP, AFP, Phil Daily Inquirer, Phil Star January 2007
Copyright ©