NIGERIAN PRESIDENT PROMISES TO DEAL 'FIRMLY' WITH OIL WORKER KIDNAPPERS

by Ade Obisesan Tue Aug 15, 5:43 PM ET

ABUJA (AFP) - Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo promised to deal "firmly" with kidnappers of foreign oil workers in the Niger Delta after a string of hostage takings and releases in recent days.

Four oil workers kidnapped a week ago were released on Tuesday, and five others were freed Monday, when another four were also abducted.

"We are going to be firm and say no to violence and hostage-taking," Obasanjo responded, according to an official statement.

"Wherever we find hostage-takers now, we will hunt them down. We will not accept this any longer," he said, speaking at a meeting with local governors and security chiefs in the Niger Delta.

The government would spare no effort to stop the kidnappings and other crimes that threaten economic activities in the volatile but oil-rich region, he said.

"Nigeria is a signatory to international conventions which categorize hostage-takers and their accomplices in non-international conflict situations as terrorists to be hunted down wherever they go," Obasanjo said.

The former military head of state said that the current situation was totally "unacceptable" to his government.

He said that armed forces and the police had been directed to meet criminal elements in the Niger Delta "force with force", the statement said.

His warning came after armed militants continued their kidnapping activities this week.

Two Ukrainian and two Norwegian oil workers kidnapped August 8 in southern Nigeria were released on Tuesday, Bayelsa police chief, Hafiz Ringim, told AFP.

Their release followed the freeing of five other abducted oil workers on Monday in the oil city of Port Harcourt, capital of nearby Rivers State, officials said.

But on Monday in Port Harcourt four workers -- an American, a Briton, a German and an Irishman -- were abducted from a popular bar in the centre of the city.

Along with another German worker seized in Port Harcourt on August 3, that brings to five the number of foreign oil workers still in the custody of their abductors.

The previously unknown Movement for the Niger Delta People (MONDP) had claimed responsibility for kidnapping the German man, and demanded the release of two local leaders standing trial for corruption in exchange for his freedom. No claims of responsibility have been made for the abduction of the other foreigners.

The German foreign ministry on Tuesday published a travel warning for its nationals planning to go to the Niger Delta.

The Nigerian president meanwhile called for joint operation rooms in strategic locations to ensure prompt reaction by troops and police to reports of hostage-taking or other forms of economic sabotage.

He also called for immediate round-the-clock patrols of the country's coastal waters.

He said that no government official, oil company or oil service company should pay any form of ransom to hostage-takers or criminal gangs, warning that violators of this order would be treated as accomplices.

He also warned that any community harbouring hostage-takers would also be treated as accomplices.

Since the beginning of the year, separatist militants have stepped up their campaign for greater benefits from oil proceeds and to protest against environmental devastation.

Around 40 expatriate oil workers have been abducted and released after spending days or weeks in captivity.

Nigeria, a nation of 130 million people, is the world's sixth biggest crude exporter with a daily output of 2.6 million barrels, a quarter of which is lost to unrest.

As Africa's largest oil producer, Nigeria derives more than 95 percent of its foreign exchange earnings from oil.