Gunmen armed with dynamite invaded an oil services base in
Bayelsa state in Nigeria's southern oil-producing Niger Delta
Wednesday and kidnapped nine South Korean workers and one
Nigerian.
The gunmen came in six boats to the riverside base in the
outskirts of Bayelsa state capital Yenagoa. They blew up part of an
office building and the ground was littered with pieces of zinc
roofing, electrical fittings and air conditioning units.
"The militants entered the facility armed with guns and dynamite
before dawn," said Han Sang-ho, a Daewoo employee at the site,
speaking to South Korean TV network YTN.
"There was an exchange of gunshots and they broke in with
dynamite," Han said.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility. Abductions for
ransom are frequent in the Niger Delta.
In Seoul, Vice-Foreign Minister Kim Ho-young said the captured
men were safe and a South Korean ambassador was on his way from
Cote d'Ivoire to Nigeria to deal with the crisis.
The security situation is worsening in the delta, which accounts
for all oil production from OPEC member Nigeria, the world's
eighth-biggest exporter of crude. A fifth of Nigerian output
capacity is shut down because of militant attacks.
The attack on the base operated by South Korea's Daewoo
Engineering and Construction came less than a week after five
Chinese telecom workers were kidnapped for ransom in another area
of the volatile delta.
Daewoo, which is working on a pipeline project in the area,
confirmed that nine of its employees, all South Koreans, had been
captured.
The men taken captive were in one section of the living
quarters. There were 17 South Koreans in total at the facility.
Hostages in the Niger Delta are usually kept for a few days in
remote settlements accessible only by boat through mangrove-lined
creeks, before being released unharmed after their employers or
local authorities pay money.
However, one Nigerian and one Briton were killed last year in
separate botched attempts by troops to free them.
Lawless delta
Crime and militancy flourish in the lawless delta, where
residents complain of neglect and marginalisation.
The armed forces are unable to control thousands of remote
waterways where kidnappings for ransom as well as politically
motivated attacks on the oil industry and theft of crude oil from
barges or pipelines are common.
These problems have plagued the delta for years but they
intensified in 2006 and many fear violence will further escalate in
the build-up to the Nigerian elections in April as armed thugs
sponsored by local politicians come back into action.
As well as the Korean and Chinese captives, three Italians and
one Lebanese employed by Italian oil company Agip have been held
hostage since December 7 in the delta by a rebel group, the
Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND).
The MEND, which says it is fighting for local control of oil
assets and reparations for neglect and pollution, was responsible
for a wave of attacks on the oil industry last February that shut
down over 500,000 barrels per day in output.
(China Daily via agencies January 11, 2007)
