Gunmen seize eight oil workers in latest violence in impoverished delta

Gunmen raided an offshore oil rig in Nigeria before dawn on Friday, abducting eight foreign oil workers, police and oil company officials said. “They were attacked and kidnapped by a group of militants and include six Britons, one American and one Canadian,” Nigerian police spokesman Haz Iwendi told reporters. “No group has claimed responsibility and no demands have been made,” he added. Violent attacks on foreigners and international oil companies has peaked in recent months as armed militias protest what they call the marginalisation of the oil rich Niger Delta, which remains one of the poorest regions of West Africa despite its valuable reservoirs of crude. The rig named Bulford Dolphin, operated by Norway firm Fred Olsen on behalf of Peak Petroleum Industries of Nigeria, was located some 42 kilometres offshore at the time of the attack. “Drilling operations have been temporarily suspended,” the company said in a statement, adding that it was working with the Nigerian authorities to secure the release of the seized workers. Since the beginning of the year militia attacks have forced operators in Nigeria to cut oil production of 2.5 million barrels a day by more than 20 percent. Militant group Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) have claimed responsibility for previous hostage takings, but so far no group has claimed the latest attack. In recent years decades of restiveness in the impoverished Niger Delta, where inhabitants feel cheated out of the oil wealth produced in their area, has transformed into a new armed militancy represented by groups like MEND. In addition to local control of oil wealth the group is also demanding the release of ethnic Ijaw militia leader Mujahid Dokubo-Asari of the Niger Delta People’s Volunteer Force (NDPVF) held by President Olusegun Obasanjo’s government on treason charges. Joseph Evah, a campaigner for the rights of the Ijaw, the biggest of the ethnic minority groups that inhabit the delta, said continued detention of Dokubo-Asari and failure to address the demands of MEND remained the key cause of continuing militia attacks. “As long as [Dokubo-] Asari is in detention that attacks are likely to continue,” said Evah, who added that MEND may not be the group responsible for the latest attack. “There are countless numbers of groups. If the government focuses too much on one group, they choose another name.” DM/SS