Militants free two foreign oil workers in Niger Delta

Nov 7, 2006, 14:50 GMT

Abuja - Militants in Nigeria's Niger Delta released an American and a British oil worker on Tuesday, after holding them captive for five days, the BBC reported.

The BBC named the freed hostages as Briton Martin Maddieson and US citizen Jim Brazel, who were abducted last Thursday when militants raided a Norwegian oil services ship they were on in the southern Ijaw council area of Bayelsa State.

'They were released this morning in (state capital) Yenagoa. They were safe and sound,' said Bayelsa State spokesman Ekiyor Conrad Welson. The conditions of their release was unknown.

The release follows a raid on Monday on an oil-pumping station of Italian company Agip, also in Bayelsa State.

No reason was given for Monday's attack, but Bayelsa State government officials said the incident might be connected with disagreements over the implementation of a Memorandum of Understanding signed between the company and its host communities in the council area.

Multinational oil companies often sign the Memorandum of Understanding with their host communities to provide jobs, employment and infrastructure, but the implementation of the agreements has often been a source of discord between the two parties.

This hostage taking is the latest in a series that began last month after some relative quiet.

The past year has seen growing unrest in the Niger Delta, where militants calling for a greater say over the use of natural resources and protesting environmental destruction by oil companies have kidnapped dozens of expatriate workers, usually releasing them unharmed after a short period.