Oil Delta Militants Say Nigerian Hostages Freed

LAGOS - The main militant group in Nigeria's oil-producing Niger Delta said on Sunday it had released around 19 Nigerian oil workers kidnapped last month but was still holding two Britons and a Ukrainian.

"The Nigerian hostages rescued from pirates by the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) have been released in Rivers state," MEND said in an e-mailed statement.

"Due to the location where the expatriates were kept for their safety, they cannot be released at this time because of security concerns," the group said.

Two Britons, two South Africans and a Ukrainian were kidnapped from an oil supply vessel, the H.D. Blue Ocean, which was hijacked at the entrance of the Sambreiro River in the delta, a vast network of mangrove swamps, on September 9.

MEND said several days later that it had rescued the five expatriates along with 22 Nigerians, but that they had become trapped when fighting broke out between MEND and the army.

MEND also said it was holding them as "reward leverage" for the release of its suspected leader Henry Okah, on trial for gun-running and treason.

The two South Africans have already been released.

"The Brits ... and one Ukrainian are still in our custody," a senior member of MEND told Reuters, adding that around 19 Nigerians had been released on Sunday morning.

The MEND member said that the release of another Briton by gunmen on Saturday, more than two weeks after he was kidnapped in the main oil city of Port Harcourt, was a separate matter unrelated to MEND. 





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