Posted by Reuters on
Nigerian secret agents have detained two men suspected of helping militants holding four foreign oil workers hostage, security sources said Tuesday, raising hopes of a breakthrough in the 13-day-old crisis.
WARRI, Nigeria (Reuters) -- Nigerian secret agents have detained two men suspected of helping militants holding four foreign oil workers hostage, security sources said Tuesday, raising hopes of a breakthrough in the 13-day-old crisis.
The men, officials in the southern Nigerian state of Delta, were picked up Monday afternoon and are believed to have close links to Ijaw ethnic militants whose monthlong campaign of sabotage has cut a 10th of Nigeria's oil supply.
"The two men are helping us with our enquiries," said Adebayo Babalola, director of the State Security Service in Delta state.
Government officials have expressed confidence the hostage crisis soon would end as negotiations progress on a ransom payment with a person whom they believe to be a credible representative of the kidnappers.
However, the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, which claims responsibility for the attacks and the kidnapping, has said it is not in talks with anyone.
In a statement Tuesday, the group said it would keep the hostages until it wins the release of two Ijaw leaders and $1.5 billion in pollution compensation from Royal Dutch Shell for delta villages.
"The hostages are going nowhere!" the group said in an e-mail Tuesday, adding that the people negotiating with authorities were only interested in enriching themselves.
The group, which also is demanding more local control over the delta's enormous oil wealth, denounced Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo as a "thief" and said it would attack assets owned by his family and allies in the Niger Delta.
Unions have threatened to withdraw workers from the restive delta, which produces almost all the nation's 2.4 million barrels of oil per day, if the security situation deteriorates.
Dozens of people have been killed in raids and bombings by the militia, which have pushed oil prices to four-month highs.