Posted by AFP on
Nigeria's most prominent armed group said Friday it could help obtain the release of 10 oil workers, including six Frenchmen, taken hostage on an industry support vessel off the coast of Cameroon.
LAGOS, Nigeria (AFP)--Nigeria's most prominent armed group said Friday it could help obtain the release of 10 oil workers, including six Frenchmen, taken hostage on an industry support vessel off the coast of Cameroon.
"We have influence in securing the release of the hostages if requested to," the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, or MEND, said in an e- mail.
However, MEND denied any affiliation to the Bakassi Freedom Fighters, the little-known group that has claimed the kidnapping.
Nigeria ceded Bakassi to Cameroon in August after a ruling by the International Court of Justice brought to an end a 15-year dispute over the peninsula, including rights to its oil fields and fishing grounds.
The handover was completed peacefully, but some local groups opposed the change of sovereignty and threatened attacks.
The Bakassi Freedom Fighters, part of a shadowy Nigerian group dubbed the Niger Delta Defense and Security Council, claimed responsibility in June and July for attacks that killed seven Cameroonian troops and a local official.
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10-31-081222ET
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