Nigeria’s most prominent militant group on Thursday rescued two German hostages seized by an armed gang, an unprecedented intervention by a group that has wrought havoc on the OPEC member’s oil sector.
The German Foreign Ministry confirmed that the two workers have been released.
The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) said this was the first time it had freed hostages taken by another armed gang since it launched a campaign of violence against the oil sector in early 2006.
“[MEND] concluded a successful rescue of the two German hostages and staff of Julius Berger ... from inside the heavily fortified hideout of the group that kidnapped them,” the group said in an e-mailed statement.
ATTACKS
MEND, responsible for attacks that have cut a fifth of Nigeria’s oil output since early 2006, released the two men near the oil hub Port Harcourt. A Julius Berger source confirmed the two employees had been freed.
MEND said it carried out the rescue operation after discovering that one of the hostages had suffered severe spinal injuries during his abduction.
The two Germans were seized on July 11 at Emohua in Rivers state in the Niger Delta, an area notorious for kidnappings.
The kidnapping by around 15 gunmen, travelling in armored jeeps accompanied by 28 soldiers, was so brutal that Julius Berger, the country’s largest construction firm, decided to suspend all operations in the delta.
MEND announced about a week later it had identified the kidnappers and would seek the release of the hostages.
INFRASTRUCTURE
The militant group said it wanted to intervene because the pair were not part of the energy sector but were working to help build the delta’s infrastructure.
Julius Berger has yet to resume its work in the delta, prompting MEND to increase its pressure on the company by threatening earlier this month to attack its foreign employees unless it halted operations in the capital, Abuja.
MEND said it would drop the threat once Julius Berger returned to the Niger Delta.
MEND, which is split between a number of different factions, says it is fighting for development and greater local control of the delta’s resources.
But the breakdown of law and order in the region has allowed criminal gangs to thrive by kidnapping for ransom and stealing crude oil.
More than 200 foreigners have been seized in the Niger Delta since early 2006. Almost all have been released unharmed.
When Shanghai-based designer Guo Qingshan posted a vacation photo on Valentine’s Day and captioned it “Puppy Mountain,” it became a sensation in China and even created a tourist destination. Guo had gone on a hike while visiting his hometown of Yichang in central China’s Hubei Province late last month. When reviewing the photographs, he saw something he had not noticed before: A mountain shaped like a dog’s head rested on the ground next to the Yangtze River, its snout perched at the water’s edge. “It was so magical and cute. I was so excited and happy when I discovered it,” Guo said.
TURNAROUND: The Liberal Party had trailed the Conservatives by a wide margin, but that was before Trump threatened to make Canada the US’ 51st state Canada’s ruling Liberals, who a few weeks ago looked certain to lose an election this year, are mounting a major comeback amid the threat of US tariffs and are tied with their rival Conservatives, according to three new polls. An Ipsos survey released late on Tuesday showed that the left-leaning Liberals have 38 percent public support and the official opposition center-right Conservatives have 36 percent. The Liberals have overturned a 26-point deficit in six weeks, and run advertisements comparing the Conservative leader to Trump. The Conservative strategy had long been to attack unpopular Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, but last month he
Chinese authorities said they began live-fire exercises in the Gulf of Tonkin on Monday, only days after Vietnam announced a new line marking what it considers its territory in the body of water between the nations. The Chinese Maritime Safety Administration said the exercises would be focused on the Beibu Gulf area, closer to the Chinese side of the Gulf of Tonkin, and would run until tomorrow evening. It gave no further details, but the drills follow an announcement last week by Vietnam establishing a baseline used to calculate the width of its territorial waters in the Gulf of Tonkin. State-run Vietnam News
PROBE: Last week, Romanian prosecutors launched a criminal investigation against presidential candidate Calin Georgescu accusing him of supporting fascist groups Tens of thousands of protesters gathered in Romania’s capital on Saturday in the latest anti-government demonstration by far-right groups after a top court canceled a presidential election in the EU country last year. Protesters converged in front of the government building in Bucharest, waving Romania’s tricolor flags and chanting slogans such as “down with the government” and “thieves.” Many expressed support for Calin Georgescu, who emerged as the frontrunner in December’s canceled election, and demanded they be resumed from the second round. George Simion, the leader of the far-right Alliance for the Unity of Romanians (AUR), which organized the protest,
RSS