Nigerian gunmen free hostages

Poverty has caused tensions in the Delta

Gunmen in south-eastern Nigeria have left two oil rigs where they were holding 165 workers hostage, the international oil company Royal Dutch/Shell says.

All the workers, who had been held hostage for five days on the rigs in the Niger Delta, are safe, the company said.

The ethnic Ijaw gunmen stormed the rigs on Monday demanding jobs and cash.

Oil workers are frequently targeted

"Since early this afternoon (Friday) all the community people left the rigs," Shell production manager Andre van Strijp said.

The hostages included 145 Nigerians, seven US citizens, five Britons and a number of Australians and Lebanese. They are employed by Mallard Bay and NGN Catering Company, service contractors for Shell.

The company had reached an agreement on Wednesday with the hostage takers' representatives to free the captives.

Delta oil hostages

March 2000 - 32 held for five days

July 1999 - 64 held for two days

June 1999 - two helicopter pilots held for three weeks

Militants in the Niger Delta region have frequently taken foreign workers hostage in order to draw attention to their cause, demanding money or jobs.

The rigs are located in one of the most inaccessible areas of the Niger Delta, a region of sea water creeks, swamps and mangrove islands.

Helicopters dropped food and other supplies a short distance from the drilling facilities. For security reasons they did not land.

Asked if the workers would be taken off the rigs once the gunmen left, van Strijp said: "We will continue to work as usual and have the normal crew changes".

Shell spokesman Bisi Ojeideran said the company rejected the Ijaw youths' demands for jobs as security personnel and catering staff and for a $5,000 ransom.

But Shell agreed to meet their representatives on 15 August to address their grievances, Ojeideran said.

Poor region

Oil production in the Delta generates much of Nigeria's revenue, but historically the region has not benefited from the wealth.

Royal Dutch/Shell is the largest multinational oil company operating in Nigeria, and its production accounts for nearly half of the country's total daily output of just over two million barrels a day.

President Olusegun Obasanjo promised to develop the oil-producing areas when he came to power last year and has set up a new body, the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), to do this.

But so far little has changed for the residents of the area, with unemployment still high and infrastructure poor.